


Three Homes, Two Jacks and a Ianto

by BlackDawnRose



Category: Stargate SG-1, Torchwood
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-20
Updated: 2015-10-09
Packaged: 2018-03-31 10:31:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 46,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3974800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackDawnRose/pseuds/BlackDawnRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ianto is offered a job with the SGC and is going to refuse until he catches Jack cheating on him. Why did Jack do it? What will Ianto find in America? Will Ianto come back to Torchwood? Will he and Jack end up together in the end or will he choose another?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all, this is possibly one of my favourite stories ever. I love Torchwood and Stargate so throwing them together seemed like a great idea. I know crossovers are funny sometimes, but I'm doing my best to keep it from getting weird and including a bit from both worlds. I hope you like it as much as I do, any questions feel free to comment.

Jack stood beside the coffin, his sad, blue eyes staring at nothing as the priest spoke words about heaven, eternal life, immortal souls…in other words lies. None of it was true, Jack knew that plenty well and he knew the young woman whose body was currently being laid to rest within the coffin had known it too. Still, this was what the family had wanted and who was he to argue? His blood may have run through the young woman's veins but it didn't give him the right to fight the family on the decision, they had no idea who he was after all.

He looked around himself, the dark glasses he wore hiding the sadness he felt from the rest of the people gathered for the service. He was saddened even more by the fact that he didn't recognise a single one of them. That was the burden of being him; he could help create life but he could never remain with the life he created, eventually he had to walk away, not for his own sake but for theirs. It really did people's heads in when they aged and he didn't.

The woman whose service he was currently attending was the last child he'd ever fathered and she would retain that title for eternity Jack was positive of it. He'd created her with a woman he'd loved so many years ago but had, of course, had to walk away from, as previously stated, for her own sake. He'd loved only one other since and just like everyone else he'd let that other person go. It had hurt him more than anything he'd ever done, but just like all the others, it was for his own good.

Ianto Jones. The name still hurt him and made him smile in equal measure. He'd never loved another like the Welshman and he was positive he never would. The very idea of even touching another human being turned his stomach and he'd found no comfort in another since he'd watched the young man walk away all those years ago.

He knew he shouldn't be thinking about Ianto today but he couldn't help it. He wondered where the other man was, what he was doing, whether he was still alive and living out a happy, normal life away from Torchwood. He wondered those things every day but he never had the guts to look the other man up and find out, mostly because he couldn't stand the idea of Ianto getting married and having a family without him and he was sure the other man was, he was sure Ianto was happy wherever he was now…he had to be, if he wasn't all the pain was for nothing and Jack couldn't stand that thought.

Ianto had to be happy, he just had to be.

XX

Ianto frowned at the envelope in his hand. The letter he'd just received didn't seem possible. He'd heard of the organisation responsible for sending it before but he'd never imagined them writing to him. Why would they? What reason did they have to look in his direction?

There was an authentic, military seal on the back of the envelope and the letter contained within looked authentic but still… He gave some thought to discarding it; after all it seemed crazy that an organisation like this one would be writing to him. At the same time however Ianto was more than a little curious to see what it said.

Figuring it couldn't hurt to find out Ianto unfolded the letter and began to read.

Dear Mr Jones,

On behalf of the military commander of this base, Brigadier General Jack O'Neill and the President of the United States, I would like to offer you a position within our organisation. General O'Neill is in need of an assistant to aid him in handling the immense work load he is currently undertaking and we feel that your experience in the area of alien technology, as well as your experience in handling the day to day affairs of Torchwood 3 make you uniquely qualified to undertake such a position.

Ianto raised an eyebrow in surprise. How did anyone else know what he did at Torchwood?

The letter went on to explain the tasks he would be required to perform as well as the confidentiality agreements and the like he'd be required to sign before finishing with details of whom to contact should he have any questions, a man named Walter, and lastly how much they were offering to pay him. Ianto blinked a few times at that last part, it was more than he was being paid at Torchwood, which was saying a lot, for a lot less work it seemed. It was quite a tempting offer really and Ianto would be a mad, crazy ass to pass it up.

Of course Ianto was a mad, crazy ass and he knew, without a moment's hesitation, that he wasn't going anywhere.

The offer may be tempting but not only would it mean moving to America and working for the military, it would mean leaving Torchwood, his responsibilities, Tosh, and most of all Jack. It didn't matter how tempting an offer was he would never leave Jack, the immortal man needed him and as much as Ianto would never admit it to anyone, he was completely in love with him.

He moved to shred the letter but decided it was something he should show Jack just so the 51st century man realised there were other organisations trying to steal his staff. With a grin lighting up his features as he thought about the look that would likely be on Jack's face when he showed the other man the contents of the letter Ianto headed down into the hub.

XX

It was two weeks later that found Ianto standing in Jack's office door, his mouth wide open in shock and tears threatening to spill down his face.

Two days ago a man named Armond had arrived from the 51st century looking for Jack. Apparently they were old friends and Jack had been thrilled to see him. Ianto hadn't asked about their past affiliation, he really didn't want to hear Jack tell him they'd slept together, but he was pretty sure he knew the answer anyway. He'd watched Jack carefully over the next couple of days to see if there was anything between the pair still, and for the most part he'd been pleased to say their relationship seemed fairly platonic.

It was anything but platonic now.

Jack had Armond splayed out over his desk, his hands wandering all over the other man's well muscled chest while he kissed him senseless.

Ianto knew he should turn around right now and leave the hub but he couldn't bring himself to move. He was so angry, so hurt and so upset that all he could do was stand there and stare at the sight before him. He'd known that Jack wasn't one for commitment when they'd first met but he'd thought the other man had been growing to care for him, that maybe he was more than a casual shag to Jack despite what Owen had always told him.

How could Jack do this to him? He knew what Ianto had been through, he knew how much this would hurt him, surely he did, how could he?

With that thought spurring on his anger Ianto marched over to the men and ripped Jack away by the back of his hair. Jack stumbled back, a look of shock on his face and Ianto didn't give him a moment to recover before he pulled his fist back and punched the immortal man as hard as he could. Jack fell hard on the ground and Ianto turned to face the other 51st century man who was looking at him in shock.

"Did you know that he was supposed to be with me?" He growled. "Did he tell you we were lovers? Answer me!" he roared when the other man just continued to stare at him in shock.

"Ianto, don't take it out on him," he heard Jack say and he turned to see the immortal man climbing to his feet. Ianto pulled his gun out of its holster and pointed it at Jack.

"You stay there," he snarled, cocking the weapon so Jack knew he was serious about the warning before turning his attention back to Armond. "I'm only going to ask you one more time, did you know?" he snarled quietly but in a tone that only a complete moron would question.

After a few moments Armond nodded. "He said…that it was nothing, that you two were just shagging that there was nothing more to it. He…he said you knew how things were in the future…he said you understood," Armond replied shakily.

Tears burnt Ianto's eyes once more but he blinked them away before turning to glare at Jack. He turned the gun toward Armond and just as Jack opened his mouth to protest Ianto spoke. "Get out," he ordered in a soft snarl and Armond lingered only a moment longer before Ianto heard him flee from the room. As soon as he was gone Ianto turned the gun back on Jack. "Was I just a game to you? Something to pass the time?" he demanded quietly.

"Ianto-" Jack began but Ianto cut him off.

"No, I don't want to hear it, Captain," Ianto hissed the last word and he saw Jack flinch. "I never thought it would be possible to hate you more that I did when you ran off with the Doctor, but I was wrong. I hate you so much right now I'd like nothing more than to shoot you until this clip runs out." He glared into Jack's wide, shocked, blue eyes for a moment before lowering the gun. "Be thankful I'm better than you," he snarled before kneeling down and leaning over the immortal man until their faces were inches apart. "You are a monster, Jack Harkness, an unfeeling monster, and I'll not stay here to be treated like I'm nothing but a toy. I'm leaving, don't try and stop me."

Without another word Ianto pushed himself to his feet and stalked out of the office. He reached the cog door and stepped into the lift before uncocking his gun. He reached the top floor and stepped out of the lift, striding over to the spot where he kept his keys and wallet and shoving them in his pocket along with the letter from the SGC before heading out of the tourist office. He reached his car and headed home as quickly as he could, anger keeping him from falling apart as he parked, headed inside and opened the letter to find the number he needed.

It kept him coherent as he dialled the number and waited for an answer. It kept his voice from shaking as he spoke to Walter and agreed to take the job. It kept him together while he made the arrangements he needed to get himself to America and away from Wales as quickly as he could and end the lease he currently had on his flat.

It was only after everything was sorted and organised and his mind was no longer occupied that the anger fizzled out and Ianto dropped to the floor, curling himself into a ball and allowing the pain to consume him.


	2. The General and the Archaeologist

Ianto watched the scene unfolding around him with very little trepidation which surprised him greatly given the circumstances. General O'Neill was facing off with a representative from Calarin who'd come to the SGC to discuss trade agreements and had been none too pleased with the ambassador's original offer. When the debating had gone on so long the ambassador thought he was going to go insane he'd called General O'Neill in to help. Ianto had, of course, gone with him and now here they were.

General O'Neill had argued with the man for a little over 30 mins and now they were staring each other down, the tension on the room thick enough to be almost visible. Ianto wasn't concerned though, he knew everyone else in the room was and he probably should be but he wasn't. He'd seen General O'Neill talk himself out of many a situation since he'd taken on his new job a month ago and he knew with certainty that this one would be no different.

After another few tense seconds the Calarin representative's eyes softened slightly and he held out his hand to General O'Neill. "Agreed," he said with a smile and Jack shook his hand.

"Pleasure doing business with you," General O'Neill replied before informing the man that Major Davis would have the treaties drawn up and delivered to the Calarin government ASAP. The representative agreed and Jack bid everyone good day before leaving the room.

Ianto followed him back to his office and grinned at the other man as he slid down into his chair and brought his hands up to his face. "I hate negotiating!" he growled causing Ianto's smile to grow.

"Would you like some coffee, General?" Ianto offered quietly as he eyed the palm pilot to see what was next on their agenda. Apparently there was nothing left to do today which surprised Ianto greatly until he remembered Jack's dinner with the president that was scheduled for this evening.

Jack brought his hands away from his face and gave Ianto a grateful smile. "I would love some coffee, Ianto." he replied before eyeing the palm pilot in Ianto's hand. "How much have we got left to do today?" he asked.

"Actually nothing, General," Ianto replied turning his attention back to the other man. "Your day is finished; all you have left to do it get ready and get on the plane for the white house."

Jack sighed. "Oh right…that," he grumbled looking down at his hands considerately for a moment before looking up again with a hopeful expression on his face and asking, "Don't want to go for me do you?"

Ianto gave him an understanding smile before saying, "I'll get you that coffee, General," and leaving the room. When he returned a few minutes later and handed the mug to Jack the man in question studied him thoughtfully for a moment.

"What are you going to do for the rest of the afternoon, Ianto?" he asked after a few moments.

Ianto was surprised by the question but replied immediately, "Probably catch up on some paper work, Sir."

The general eyed him for a moment before saying, "Ianto, why don't you sit down for a moment, I'd like to talk to you about something."

Ianto did as bid although he was concerned about what the other man might possibly want to discuss.

Jack looked at him thoughtfully for another few moments before speaking again. "How long have you been here now, Ianto?" he asked.

"A little over a month, Sir," he replied.

Jack nodded and Ianto's apprehension increased. "Are you happy here?" Jack asked.

"Yes, Sir," Ianto replied.

"Relaxed, comfortable that sort of thing?" Jack asked again.

"Yes, Sir," Ianto replied.

Jack nodded thoughtfully and Ianto felt himself compelled to ask. "Is there something wrong, Sir? Are you not happy with my work?"

Jack looked up at him startled. "No, no," the man rushed to assure him. "Quite the contrary you've been a god send. I didn't want an assistant at the beginning but I've come to depend on you quite a bit over the last month. No the reason for my questioning is that I haven't noticed you interacting with any of the other people on the base and I was rather curious as to why that might be. I mean I know you're busy but surely I don't work you too hard do I?" Jack asked.

Ianto immediately shook his head. "No, Sir, not at all, I enjoy my job a great deal," he replied.

Jack nodded. "So is it a personal thing? You prefer to keep your work life separate from your personal life or is it something else? I noticed you're still living on the base so it can't be that you hang out with your neighbours or anything of the sort," he noted.

Ianto was surprised by the question and Jack's sudden interest in him, he wasn't used to having anyone care about where he went or what he did, he wasn't sure if he like it or not. He knew Jack was waiting for an answer so he asked, "Is it a problem, keeping to myself I mean, does it bother you that I don't interact with the rest of the staff?"

Jack studied his expression for a moment before saying. "No it's not a problem, Ianto, I was just curious as to why that might be. I am the commander of this base; it's my job to ensure that everyone in it is happy and adjusted. If there is a problem I want to know about it so I can help."

Ianto thought about it for a moment. He could tell General O'Neill the truth about why he hadn't been interacting with the rest of the base's occupants but he doubted Jack would want to hear it. Of course the man had asked so he had to tell him something and he didn't want to lie to his new boss; he'd started off that way at Torchwood and he didn't want to repeat that mistake. Perhaps if he hadn't lied to the immortal Jack in the first place then maybe…he pushed that thought aside, it would only serve to upset him and remind him of what he'd lost.

"Ianto are you okay?" General O'Neill's voice broke through his reverie and he immediately nodded in reply.

"Yes, Sir, sorry, Sir, I was thinking about how I should reply to your question," Ianto explained.

"Well honestly would be a good start," the General suggested.

Ianto nodded, "Of course, Sir, that was never in question, it's just a very complicated situation and I'm not sure how to describe it to you. Perhaps it would be better if I didn't try to. I will make more of an effort to interact with the rest of the staff, Sir. I'm sorry to have concerned you but you need not worry, I'm just fine."

"Are you sure?" Jack asked.

Ianto nodded. "Yes, Sir,"

Jack looked unconvinced but he nodded in return. "Okay, tell you what, why don't you start right now? You've got the rest of the afternoon off why don't you go and meet some people," he suggested.

Ianto nodded, "Yes, Sir," he agreed standing up and heading for the door. "Have a good evening, Sir."

"Ianto." The General's voice stopped him before he could open the door and he turned back to face the other man.

"Yes, Sir."

"While we're out there there's regs; when we're not call me Jack," he said with a friendly smile.

Ianto returned the smile. "All right, Jack," he replied and headed out of the office closing the door behind him. At least his new boss seemed to care about something other than his ass.

He headed to the lift and hit the floor for the commissary thinking about what Jack had said to him. When he'd first arrived he'd thrown himself into his work as a way of escaping the pain of his immortal lover's betrayal, but the general's words had got him thinking and he really was happy here. He liked his job and his boss a great deal, and being here, so far away, doing something like he was and being appreciated for it instead of looked down upon like he had been at Torchwood was making him fell better than he'd thought it would.

He definitely wanted to stick around and Jack was right, he should make himself some friends, he just wasn't sure how to go about it. Talking wasn't exactly his strong suit and that's how you got to know most people. On another note who should he be trying to make friends with? This sort of thing was hard. The lift opened and he stepped out without thinking heading in the direction of where the commissary was. It wasn't long before he figured out he was on the wrong floor and he cursed himself mentally for not paying more attention. He was about to turn around and head back to the lift when he heard a slightly unhappy voice coming from further down the corridor. Curiosity got the better of him and he followed the sound until he found the source.

He found Dr. Daniel Jackson sitting in his office with his head in his hands while a young woman tried to explain something to him.

"But then it started flashing and I thought-"

"You thought what? That you should then go and poke it?" Daniel demanded a mixture of anger and hopelessness written on his face.

Ianto ignored the girl's next words peering inside the office to see all of Daniel's books and papers strewn around the floor in a terrible mess that made Ianto cringe. There was stuff everywhere, he was sure it was going to take hours to sort through it all and set it right again.

Suddenly a thought occurred to Ianto. He wasn't good at talking but he was definitely good at sorting things, and Daniel, from what Ianto had seen of him, was a very nice guy, smart, polite, well mannered when he wasn't arguing with Jack. Maybe if he offered to help the young archaeologist sort out his office it would give him a change to get to know the other man, well, it was worth a try anyway.

First though.

Ianto headed back down the hall to the mini kitchenette the base had on every floor and proceeded to make him and Daniel a coffee the way he knew the young archaeologist liked it. He was heading back down the corridor when the young girl scurried from the room looking decidedly upset. She wasn't crying though so obviously Daniel hadn't yelled at her like some people would have. When he re-entered Daniel's office the man in question was still seated at his desk, his head buried in his hands. He obviously heard the footsteps because he said.

"Carrys if that's you please just go and find something else to do."

"It's not," Ianto replied causing Daniel to jump slightly and look up at him questioningly.

"I'm sorry," Daniel apologised quietly. "Does Jack need something because he might have to wait?"

Ianto shook his head. "No, General O'Neill's off for the afternoon, he has his white house dinner tonight," he replied.

"Lucky Jack," Daniel stated dryly. "So what can I do for you then?" he asked.

"Nothing. Actually I was walking past and noticed you might need a hand…and some caffeine," Ianto replied handing over the steaming mug he'd made for the archaeologist.

Daniel eyes widened in surprise and a dazzling smile lit up his features as he took the offered cup. "Thank you, that's really nice of you, Ianto," he replied warmly.

Ianto barely managed a 'you're welcome', his breath suddenly catching in his throat as he realized just how incredibly sexy Daniel was. He hadn't noticed before but then again he hadn't really been looking. This revelation threw him quite a lot. He'd never been interested in a man before Jack came along and he hadn't expected to ever be again, but something about Daniel's eyes and that beautiful smile drew him in and he felt desire stirring inside him almost instantly.

Thankfully Daniel had immediately taken a swig of his coffee so he hadn't noticed Ianto's shock, and by the time he looked up again Ianto had once more regained his composure, externally at least.

Daniel gave Ianto an appreciative smile. "You make the best coffee, Ianto," he complimented.

Ianto returned his smile. "I'm glad you like it," he replied before taking a sip of his own and turning his attention back to the mess. "So, what happened here?" he asked.

Daniel groaned. "We were studying an alien artefact that turned out to be a really big pedestal fan and well…," he motioned out into the office.

Ianto felt himself cringe, something similar had happened while he was at Torchwood only it had been Owen and he wasn't in someone's office he was in the archives. "I can honestly say I know how you feel," he sympathised.

"Thanks," Daniel replied taking another sip of his coffee before surveying the room once more. "This is going to take me forever," he stated dryly, a desolate look in his eyes.

Ianto gave his a reassuring smile. "It won't take us that long," he replied gently sinking down into the chair beside Daniel.

Daniel turned to him a look of puzzlement on his face. "You're not seriously thinking about helping me?" he asked.

Ianto returned his puzzled look, "Why not?" he asked confused.

"Well because it's your afternoon off. Jack's not here to boss you around you should take advantage of this opportunity and go have some fun," Daniel replied.

Ianto smiled at the other man. "I'm glad to help, really. I couldn't go home now and leave you all alone with so much to do I'd feel terrible."

"But you shouldn't, it's not your fault," Daniel argued. "Honestly, go home, do something fun. Breaks are hard to come by around here I'll be fine on my own."

Ianto looked down at his coffee feeling slightly rejected even though he knew Daniel wasn't trying to be unkind. Maybe he just didn't want Ianto's company; he couldn't exactly blame the man he wasn't the most interesting person to be around. Still, he really didn't want to go back to his room yet and despite what he'd told Jack earlier he'd done most of the paper work already.

"What if I asked really, really nicely?" he asked the archaeologist who looked at him confused.

"What?" Daniel asked.

Ianto sighed and looked Daniel in the eyes for a moment. "I really want to stay here and help you. I need to be doing something, so if you have no objections to me helping you then I'd be very happy to stay. I was the archivist at Torchwood I'm really good at this kind of thing, but if you honestly just don't want me helping you I'll go and bother someone else."

Their gazes locked and Daniel studied Ianto's face for a moment as if he was looking for something. Finally it seemed as if he found what he was looking for because his gaze softened from curious to understanding and he gave Ianto a small smile.

"All right but don't say I didn't offer to let you out," he said jokingly.

"Promise," Ianto agreed before turning his attention back to the mess. "So, where do we start?"

Several hours later Daniel and Ianto were sitting in the commissary eating…something, and swapping stories. When they'd finally finished sorting everything out in Daniel's office (and Ianto had organised a new system for the archaeologist which would likely save him a whole lot of time) they'd immediately headed for the commissary to find something edible. They'd definitely found something, it wasn't overly edible but it was something.

"…then Owen drops the thing and it shatters everywhere and Suzie grabs him by his collar and hurls him straight into the water in the middle of the hub not realizing that Owen can't swim. So the man's flailing about for ages in a panic until he finally realizes he's 'drowning' in less than 2 feet of water," Ianto finished his story with a laugh. By now they'd told each other so many funny stories they were both crying with laughter.

"I think we'd better take a break from story-telling otherwise we'll never eat," Daniel advised once they'd managed to calm down somewhat.

Ianto agreed and they both dug into their food. Ianto watched the other man with a smile. He really was quite lovely and it turned out they got along better than he'd ever expected. Ianto had spoken more that night than he probably had the entire year before and he was pretty sure it was all due to Daniel's genuine interest in getting to know him. He sat back in his chair and smiled, he hadn't felt this at home with someone in a long time.

By the time they'd finished their food and swapped a few more stories it was getting rather late so they decided to turn in. They headed up to the floor where both of their quarters were located and once they reached Daniel's door the lovely archaeologist thanked him for all his help.

Ianto gave him a smile and told him he was welcome; that it had been nice getting to know Daniel and he didn't mind helping at all. He was pleasantly surprised when Daniel suggested they head out for dinner the following evening, his treat, as a way to show Ianto his appreciation for his help. Ianto, while making it clear he needn't go to any trouble, accepted the invitation and then they bid each other good night. Ianto headed on down to his room with a mega watt smile on his face, today had gone better than expected.

XX

There we go what did we think? Do we like so far? Are my characterisations okay? I love Stargate but this is the first time I've written a story about it so I sometimes struggle a bit with the characters. Anyway hope you liked it.


	3. I'm Okay, You're Okay

"Hey, what are you up to?" Ianto asked sliding into the chair next to Daniel and looking down at the book the young archaeologist was reading. "Ooh, Ancient Babylonian, why are you reading that?" he asked curiously just as Daniel turned to look at him in wide-eyed shock.

"You recognise this?" he asked incredulously.

Ianto frowned. "Yeah, from the day we cleaned this place up," he replied.

Daniel studied him for a moment before muttering one syllable. "Huh."

"What?" Ianto asked curious about the tone in Daniel's voice.

Daniel shook his head. "Nothing you just surprise me…a lot actually," he replied with a curious frown before shaking it off and looking back up at Ianto with a smile. "SG4 found an artefact on a recent mission and sent back photos and I'm trying to work out what it says," answering Ianto's original question.

Ianto nodded in understanding. "So what have you got so far?" he asked.

"This world is…" Daniel replied with a grin. "I've only just started," he explained.

"Ah, okay," Ianto replied with a nod. "Anything I can help with?" he asked.

"Are you a sucker for punishment or what?" Daniel asked his grin widening.

"Yes, deep down I'm secretly a masochist," Ianto replied dryly causing Daniel to laugh.

"You are a funny man, Ianto Jones."

"You don't know the half of it, Doctor Jackson," Ianto responded with a smile.

"No, you're right I don't," Daniel replied his tone suddenly serious.

Ianto raised an eyebrow at the archaeologist who was suddenly studying him intently. "Daniel?"

"I just realized it was two months ago that you helped me sort out my office and even though we've spent quite a bit of time together since that day I still don't know a lot about you," Daniel replied.

"I don't talk about myself much, there's not a lot to say really. In fact I don't usually talk much at all," Ianto explained.

"Yes, I've noticed as much, when we're around other people anyway," Daniel replied. "You seem to be okay talking to me though," he noted.

Ianto shrugged looking away. "I suppose I am," he admitted although he wasn't about to explain why. The room was silent for a moment before Daniel spoke again.

"I'm making you dinner tonight."

Ianto looked up surprised by the sudden change in topic. "What?" he asked confused.

"As soon as 17:00 rolls around we are going back to my house. I'm going to make you dinner and you are going to relax with a drink, you spend far too much time running around," Daniel ordered.

"Oh, but you don't have to-"

Daniel cut him off with a look. "I'm making you dinner," he repeated in a tone which told Ianto not to argue with him.

"Okay," Ianto agreed quietly and Daniel turned his attention back to his book. Ianto watched the other man for a moment a small smile playing on his lips, he really was lovely.

"So, can I do anything to help?" he asked again after a few moments.

Daniel looked at him considerately for a few moments before he asked. "Ever wanted to learn another language?"

Ianto nodded, "Several in fact, I've just never had the time," he replied.

Daniel got up off the chair and pulled a leather bound notebook out of one of the shelves. He handed it to Ianto who opened the first page to find…

"It's ancient isn't it?" he asked.

Daniel nodded. "It's the language we seem to deal the most with," he explained. "That book is my interpretation of the symbols and how they sound; have a look and see what you think. I think you might have a talent for interpretation considering how well you remember things."

Ianto nodded and settled into the chair to read. The language was certainly involved and very interesting to say the least. Before Ianto knew it he was finishing that book and asking Daniel for the next one. The next one went on to describe how the letters could be put together to form words and once more Ianto was completely engrossed. He'd just closed that book and was about to ask Daniel for another when he noticed the young archaeologist wasn't there. He looked around the room with a frown wondering when the other man had left, where he'd gone and incredibly amazed how he, who noticed everything that went on around him, had somehow failed to noticed Daniel leaving.

He didn't have too long to wonder however before Daniel returned to the room carrying his jacket and Ianto's. "Ready to go?" he asked with a grin.

Puzzled Ianto looked down at his watch and was startled to discover that it was indeed 17:00 and time for them to leave. "Um…yeah I guess," he replied taking his Jacket from Daniel and following the other man to the lift. He'd completely lost track of time, which didn't happen to him – ever. He should be bothered by that fact, but honestly, he really wasn't.

XX

After eating a fantastic dinner prepared by the wonderful Doctor Jackson the pair of them sat in Daniel's lounge-room drinking wine and once more swapping stories. Ianto had had a lovely time with the other man; Daniel was such an interesting person not to mention easy on the eye. Ianto hadn't had this much fun in ages. Daniel finished his story and the pair of them broke into laughter.

"Jack's a funny, funny man," Ianto commented when he could breathe again.

"Yes he certainly is," Daniel agreed. "The people you used to work with sound like an interesting lot as well," he noted.

Ianto looked away, memories of Jack and Armond immediately springing into his mind erasing all the good feelings that had been at the front of his thoughts up until now.

"Ianto, are you all right?" Daniel asked obviously noticing his change of mood.

Ianto nodded. "I'm fine," he immediately replied giving Daniel his best fake smile before studying the wine in his glass. "I should probably head off though," he said standing up and turning to head into Daniel's kitchen to rinse his glass out.

"What happened, Ianto?" he heard Daniel ask quietly from behind him. "Why did you leave?"

He paused mid-step and replied, "It doesn't matter, it's not important."

"I disagree," Daniel argued getting to his feet and moving to stand behind Ianto. "It bothers you, I know it does, I can see it in your eyes. People don't struggle to keep themselves as busy as you do unless they're hiding from something. Believe me, I know, I've done it plenty myself over the last few years."

Ianto was surprised to hear that, Daniel seemed like such a happy person. "Really? What happened to you?" he asked quietly.

"I lost my wife," Daniel replied after a moment's pause. "She was taken as a host by the Goa'uld and she died before we could get her back."

Ianto felt pain lance through him, knowing all too well how it felt to lose the one you loved like that. "I'm sorry," he said quietly turning back to face Daniel once more. "That must have been heartbreaking for you."

Daniel nodded, pain shining in his normally happy blue eyes. "It was," he agreed. "I only survived it because of Jack, although it's not something we will ever discuss."

Ianto felt a fresh stab of pain pass through him as he thought about his Jack and how the man had taken care of him after everything with Lisa. He missed Jack so much it hurt and before he realized it tears were burning his eyes. He tore his gaze away from Daniel's and walked into the kitchen, rinsing his glass out thoroughly and placing it gently in the drainer as he tried to regain his composure.

He felt Daniel's hand gently grasp his arm and turn him around so they were face to face once more but Ianto's eyes were glued to the floor.

"Hey, we're friends aren't we?" Daniel asked quietly.

Ianto felt strangely happy despite the pain currently knotting his stomach and he dared to look up at the other man for a moment as he nodded in reply.

Daniel gave him a gentle smile. "Good, I'm glad you think so, I really like you. I haven't gotten along this well with anyone in a really long time," the archaeologist replied quietly.

Ianto gave him a ghost of a smile. "Neither have I," he admitted.

Daniel's smile grew wider but vanished immediately when Ianto said, "Which is why I can't tell you why I left Torchwood. You're a really nice person, I like you a lot, I enjoy spending time with you and I'm not sure you'd want to be around me anymore if I told you the absolute truth. I haven't done anything bad per say but…I don't want you to be…uncomfortable around me, do you understand what I'm saying?" Ianto asked.

Daniel's eyes burnt into him for a moment before he asked. "What was his name?"

Ianto felt his heart stop. "What?" he asked.

"The man who broke your heart, what was his name?" Daniel clarified.

Ianto felt his face heat and he immediately looked away wondering if there was any possibility that Daniel wouldn't tell the general and Ianto could keep his job. "I should go," he said quietly moving to escape only to discover that Daniel's hands were still clamped firmly onto his upper arms. He looked tentatively up at the other man and found a mixture of pain and understanding in his lovely eyes.

"I'm not a bigot, Ianto," Daniel said gently. "Just because I work for the military doesn't mean I share all their opinions, in fact I share very few. I am never going to think less of you because of something like that and I wouldn't be worth your time if I did. Whatever happened, I know it's hurting you and I want to help, I really do. Talk to me, please," he asked quietly.

Ianto searched his eyes for any sign of deceit and when he found none he nodded in acquiescence and Daniel gently led him back to sit down on one of the couches and they started to talk. It turned out they had more in common than they'd originally thought. Daniel had lost his parents at a young age, Ianto had lost his mother and his father had become abusive at a similar age. They'd both lost their dearest loves in similar ways, Sha're had been taken by the Goa'uld. Lisa by the cybermen and neither man had been able to save the woman they loved before she was shot, Sha're by Teal'c, Lisa by Jack.

They both had similar interests and tastes in most things. They liked the same books and movies, they hated the same actors and musicians, they liked the same foods and they both liked their coffee the same way. In the end the only real difference between their stories were that Ianto never went to university and that Daniel had never been in love with a man.

When he was finally ready Ianto told Daniel about his time with his Jack. The way he took care of him after Lisa died and after the incident with the cannibals, the way they finally started to trust each other again and eventually became lovers. He told him about Jack running off with the Doctor and when he finally came back having John Hart crash the party.

Finally he told Daniel about how Jack had asked him out and they'd started to actually act like a legitimate couple, how he got the offer from the SGC and was going to turn it down until he caught Jack with Armond. At the end Ianto was in tears and Daniel had him wrapped up in his arms holding him tightly as he sobbed. Ianto hugged him back drawing strength from the other man and knowing that he really must care about him to be putting up with all this.

When at last he was calm once more their conversation turned to more pleasant topics and they whiled away the rest of the evening in friendly conversation. When Ianto left to head back to the base just before sunrise he felt lighter and happier than he had in years.

XX

End of chapter 2. Now I know our Ianto is usually very closed off about himself but I wanted to make a point that he feels very comfortable with Daniel. Anyway thanks for reading.

Kisses and hugs and all things shiny


	4. Major Davis and UNIT

Ianto was heading toward Jack's office later that morning with some paper work for the general to sign when he noticed the door was pulled mostly shut. He was about to raise his hand to knock when he heard voices coming from within and paused. Figuring Jack must be in a meeting he turned to leave intending to come back later.

"Come on, Daniel, you have to tell me something." Jack's slightly annoyed voice stopped him in his tracks.

"No, Jack I don't, what we spoke about last night was done in confidence and I won't break that." He heard Daniel reply. Were they talking about him?

"Come on, Daniel," Jack griped once more.

"No, Jack!"

He heard Jack sigh in exasperation before saying. "Fine, just tell me this, is he okay?"

"Yes I think he is," Daniel replied.

"And you two are friends now?" Jack asked.

"What's with the sudden interest in my friendships, Jack?" Daniel asked suspiciously.

"It's not like that, Daniel, you know I don't care who you're friends with," Jack chastised.

"Then what's with needing to know so much all of a sudden?" Daniel asked.

"It's…" Jack broke off and sighed. "It's not you; it's the kid all right. I…" he trailed off once more and Ianto listened intently until he spoke again. "You know I was not wildly fond of the thought of having an assistant but I…well I like the kid, okay. He's a great assistant, he doesn't bug me, and he does his job well and efficiently. All in all he's perfect and I'd hate to see him go running back to Captain walking hormone Harkness because he was unhappy here."

Ianto had to bite back a laugh at the title General O'Neill had given Ianto's former lover; it was rather apt if a little crude.

"What makes you think he's unhappy here?" Daniel asked.

"I don't know he just always seems to be by himself. He doesn't interact with any of the other staff and originally I thought it might be because he had friends closer to home that he spends most of his time with, but then I realized he lives on the base so it can't be that. I don't know, maybe he just prefers it that way, maybe he does spend time with people and I just haven't noticed, who knows. I'd just hate to think he doesn't know anyone on the base because he's too shy to approach them or because he feels like an outsider, like I said I want him to be happy here. I suppose if he's begun spending time with you now that's got to be a good thing, right?" Jack brightened at that last part.

"Actually, Jack, Ianto and I have been spending quite a bit of time together lately. I'd say I'm surprised that you hadn't noticed but I'm really not," Daniel commented dryly.

"Hey, I notice things," Jack growled indignantly.

"Sure you do," Daniel replied sarcastically.

"You know you annoy me don't you?" Jack asked.

"I strive for it, yes," Daniel replied in a perfectly even tone.

"So long as you know. Anyway, back to Ianto, you and he have been spending time together?" Jack asked.

"Yes we have," Daniel replied and Ianto could hear the smile in his voice.

"Oh hello, I know that look," Jack commented.

"What look?" Daniel asked.

"That smirk, you only get that smirk when you're really happy about something and it's even wider than normal so whatever the something is you didn't expect it," Jack replied.

"Whoa! You and I spend way too much time together," Daniel stated dryly. "But yes, you're right, I am happy and it was definitely unexpected."

"So does this unexpected something happen to be young, Welsh and spend his days walking around the base in a suit?" Jack asked and Ianto could hear the grin in his voice.

"I would have thought that was obvious considering our recent topic of conversation," Daniel replied.

"Yeah, but you never know, your mind works in mysterious ways," Jack retorted. "Don't give me that look you know I'm right. Now come on, out with it."

"We're friends, okay," Daniel replied.

"Uh-huh."

"Okay, we're really good friends, are you happy now?" Daniel asked exasperated.

"Daniel come on, I know you, spit it out."

He heard Daniel sigh. "All right, fine, I feel…at home around him. You know how you just click with certain people, the moment you meet them and you know you're going to get along? Well that's what it's like with Ianto, we just click," Daniel explained.

"Okay, so why do I get the feeling that it's more than that?" Jack asked.

"I've never felt this much of an affinity with someone, Jack, not even you," Daniel replied.

"Whoa, that is big. Well it's a good thing, right? I mean having friends you're instantly comfortable around can't be a bad thing, can it?" Jack asked.

"No, it's not, it's just foreign. I will get used to it eventually, I hope," Daniel replied.

"But in the mean time you're happy about this right? I mean you enjoy spending time with him?" Jack asked.

"Yeah I do, I like it a lot," Daniel replied.

"Well in that case this is cause for celebration. I vote we get cake," Jack announced causing Daniel to laugh.

"What is it with you and cake, Jack?" the archaeologist asked.

"It's cake, Daniel," Jack replied as if it that explained everything.

Daniel chuckled some more. "I would like him to get to know the rest of the team though; I think he'd get along well with Sam and Teal'c."

"Well, why don't you introduce them? Carter's working on something big and potentially universe changing. I'm sure she's had her head in it all day and it's almost lunch time, why don't you go find Ianto and drag him and Carter off to lunch with you," Jack suggested. "If she resists you can even tell her it's an order from me."

"You know what, I think I might. Any idea where Ianto is at the moment?" Daniel asked.

Sensing his opportunity to enter without interrupting Ianto waited until Jack started to answer before approaching the door and knocking.

"Come in," Jack called and he pushed the door open and slipped inside. "Ah, Ianto, how are you this morning?" Jack greeted him.

"I'm well thank you, Sir, how are you?" Ianto returned the greeting.

"It's Jack," the general corrected him. "And I'm great, thank you. What have you got for me?"

"Just some paper work to sign off," Ianto replied handing the papers over the desk to the older man. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."

"No problem," Jack replied taking the stack of papers and beginning to read. "Say, Ianto, this is going to take me a little while, why don't you and Daniel go and drag Carter out of her office and make her eat something. It's almost lunch time and I doubt she's looked up from that device she's been studying all day."

Ianto fought off the smirk that threatened to cover his features at Jack's suggestion and nodded. "It would be my pleasure. Do you need anything else before I go?" he asked politely.

"No, just bring me back a coffee when you're done will you?" Jack asked with a hopeful smile.

"Of course," Ianto agreed before turning his attention to Daniel. "Ready to go?" he asked.

Daniel gave him a bright smile and nodded before climbing to his feet and following Ianto out of Jack's office.

"Have fun, Jack," Daniel called from the door way.

"Oh yes, absolutely, you too," Jack replied sarcastically, eyeing the paper work as if it had fangs.

XX

Jack hadn't been wrong about Sam, she hadn't left her office all day and she resisted quite a bit when they tried to pry her away from her work to go to lunch. Eventually they succeeded and the three of them headed over to the commissary to find something to eat. As luck would have it they ran into Teal'c on their way down and he decided to accompany them also, so in the end lunch had been spent getting to know two of Daniel's closest friends and Ianto found himself enjoying the experience quite a bit. After lunch they dropped Sam back at her office and Ianto returned to his own work a happy smile on his face.

XX

At 15:00 Jack let Ianto go for the afternoon since it was another slow day and Ianto headed for Daniel's office to see if he needed help with anything. He arrived to find the room empty and frowned as he thought about what else he could do for the afternoon. He should probably hop onto the internet and see if he could find somewhere to live outside of the base since it was obviously important to General O'Neill. He headed further down the corridor figuring he'd do a lap around the level rather than just heading back the way he'd come to the lift. He'd done a lot of running at Torchwood and nowhere near as much since he'd come to the SGC so he should embrace any chance he could get for some exercise.

He was thinking about what sort of place he should rent when he rounded a corner and heard a strange sound coming from one of the doors to the left. With a concerned frown he made his way over to the door which, according to the writing on the outside, led to a supply closet. He pulled it open and froze when his gaze fell on two young men who were kissing up against one of the walls.

"Whoa," he exclaimed startled as the pair noticed his presence and sprang apart. "Um, excuse me," he said quietly before closing the door once more and continuing on his way to the lift. He grinned to himself as he thought about the number of times he and his captain had nearly been caught, the grin dying instantly as he remembered that Jack wasn't his Captain anymore.

He reached the lift and hit the button hoping like hell the lift would hurry up so he could find some work to bury himself in and push the immortal man out of his mind. Just as the lift arrived the palm pilot/mobile phone he'd been given when he'd first started with the SGC beeped. He pulled it from his pocket to find a message from General O'Neill asking him to come back to his office if he hadn't left the base yet. Ianto smiled as he hit the button for the level he needed, he'd wanted work to do, looks like he was going to get some.

He arrived in the briefing room to find Teal'c, Sam and Daniel already there and discussing something with Jack. They looked up as they heard him approach and he was pleasantly surprised to see friendly smiles on all their faces.

"Ah, Ianto, good you're here," Jack exclaimed beckoning him over. "I'm sorry I know I let you go for the afternoon but we've had an incident of sorts with our good friends at UNIT and they're apparently sending someone over to "chat" to us," Jack filled him in.

"Oh joy, UNIT," Ianto stated dryly causing the others to throw him curious glances.

"I take it you've not had good dealings with them in the past?" Jack asked.

"Their relationship with Torchwood was…well…prickly would probably be the only polite term I can think of right now," Ianto replied. "We were very much about the ideal that not all aliens are bad and therefore if there was a chance to help them we should. UNIT are all about 'it's our planet it doesn't matter if they're peaceful let's kill them anyway'. We didn't get along," he elaborated.

"I see, so a bit like us and, well, everyone else involved in the Stargate program then," Jack suggested.

"A little, yeah," Ianto agreed with a nod. "Any idea who they're sending?" he asked.

"No, Davis didn't know when he came to see me before but he should be back soon with some more information," Jack replied.

Ianto nodded. "In the mean time, who'd like a coffee?" he asked.

There were instant answers of affirmative from the group and Ianto headed down to the kitchenette to make them. He'd just started up the coffee machine when he heard Daniel's voice behind him.

"Hey," he greeted Ianto quietly.

"Hey," Ianto greeted back turning around and giving the archaeologist a friendly smile.

"I haven't really had a chance to talk to you alone since we got here this morning, how are you?" Daniel asked the concern obvious in his voice.

Ianto's smile widened, Daniel really was lovely. "I'm fine thank you," he replied turning back to check on the coffee machine. "How are you after our late evening? I hope you're not too tired," he asked in return.

"No, no I'm fine, I'm used to keeping unusual hours," Daniel replied.

"I imagine you would be. So am I for the most part, Torchwood wasn't exactly a 9-5 job," Ianto replied with a grin.

"No I'd guess not," Daniel replied. There was silence for a moment and Ianto was about to ask if something was wrong when Daniel finally spoke again. "Hey um, after this meeting's over do you think I could talk to you about something?"

There was a strange edge to Daniel's voice which concerned Ianto a little but he kept a straight face and an even tone as he replied. "Sure, is something wrong?"

"No no," Daniel replied immediately. "I just wanted to ask you about something, it's nothing bad."

"Okay," Ianto replied with a nod before handing Daniel his mug. Daniel thanked him and he put the rest of the coffees on a tray to take into the briefing room. Daniel motioned for him to lead the way and Ianto gave him a friendly smile before heading back in, Daniel close behind.

He heard voices discussing something as they got closer. One he recognised immediately as General O'Neill's the other was someone new. He walked through the door to find Jack sitting down at the table with Sam and Teal'c talking to a young man with dark hair dressed in formal, blue, Air-force attire. He had his back to the door so Ianto didn't see the man's face until Jack noticed Ianto walking back in and introduced the other man as Major Paul Davis the representative from the Pentagon.

The man turned around then and Ianto had to fight not to drop the tray as he realized it was one of the couple he'd nearly run into earlier in the closet. He saw shock and worry flash through Major Davis' eyes, but his expression remained carefully neutral as Jack finished the introductions and he held out his hand to shake.

Ianto kept his expression passive, thankful for the mask he'd perfected while he'd worked for Torchwood. He put the tray gently down on the desk and took Paul's hand in his shaking it firmly. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Major," he greeted politely.

"The pleasure's all mine, Mr Jones," Paul replied his eyes relaxing when Ianto didn't say anything about their earlier meeting.

They released each other and Ianto handed out the coffee before asking Paul how he took his. Paul replied that the other guests would be arriving soon and offered to help Ianto with the coffee for them. Normally Ianto would have declined the offer but he figured Paul probably just wanted to talk to him so he agreed and led the way down the corridor. He didn't say anything, allowing Paul to get over his shock and talk when he was ready to talk. They reached the kitchenette and Ianto had just fired up the coffee machine when Paul finally broke the silence.

"Thank you, for not saying anything, I…I really appreciate you keeping my secret, you didn't have to," he said quietly.

"You don't have to thank me, Major. It's your business not mine, why would I say anything to anyone else?" Ianto asked.

"Because it's against the rules for… men like me to serve in the Air-Force, you would have been well within your rights to report me," Davis replied cautiously and Ianto couldn't help the look of surprise that immediately covered his face as he turned back to study the other man.

"Is that so? I didn't realize," he said thoughtfully and he saw Davis pale significantly. "Relax, Major, I'm not Air-Force remember. I stand by my previous statement, it's none of my business nor is it anyone else's; I won't breathe a word I promise."

Davis relaxed visibly. "Thank you, Mr Jones," he said quietly but emphatically.

"Ianto will be just fine, Major, and you're welcome. However, might I suggest limiting those activities to a room with a locked door in the future."

Paul gave him a dazzling smile in return and nodded. "I think that would be a very good idea, and call me Paul." He held out his hand to shake once more and Ianto took it.

"All right then, lovely to meet you, Paul," Ianto greeted him politely.

"Wonderful to meet you too, Ianto," Paul replied as he let go of Ianto's hand and reached forward to take one of the trays that were now full of coffee and mugs. Ianto took the other one and they headed back into the briefing room.

XX

End of chapter 3.

So what did we think? LI love reviews so if you want to send me one I always appreciate them.


	5. Major Smith

Ianto stood out on the top of the mountain staring up at the stars. He wanted to be angry he really did but at the moment all he could feel was pain. For the fifth time in the space of 10 minutes he blinked back the tears that threatened to spill down his face reminding himself that Major Smith was an asshole and had probably intended for Ianto to react in exactly that way.

From his perch near a clump of trees no one could see him, but he had a perfect view of the entry way that led into the SGC and he watched as the UNIT representative climbed into his car and drove away. Ianto hated that man with every fibre of his being and he vowed that if he ever saw Major Smith again he'd hit him as hard as he could.

He closed his eyes thinking back to the meeting and why he now hated the man so much. The moment Major Smith arrived in the briefing room Ianto had recognised him. He and the immortal Jack had had a very horrible disagreement over a young alien who'd fallen through the rift between Cardiff and London a few months back and both groups had arrived on the scene at the same time.

Of course UNIT had wanted to kill her and cut her open to see how she worked. Jack on the other hand recognised the species as a peaceful people and wanted to help her find a way home. In the end the matter had been taken up with a representative of the Queen, who, after hearing Ianto's very well crafted argument, had allowed Torchwood to retain custody of her. Major Smith had ranted and raved but the decision was final, the young alien was handed over to Torchwood and the two groups headed for their respective vehicles.

They'd strapped the young girl into the SUV and Ianto was about to climb in himself when Major Smith had suddenly appeared behind him. He'd pushed Ianto up against the car and growled in his ear telling him that his loyalty to Jack was misplaced and one day the Captain would bore of him and move on like he did with all of his lovers.

Before Ianto had even had a chance to argue back the immortal captain had pulled Major Smith off him and punched the Unit representative hard enough that everyone present had heard his nose snap. Jack had then leant down to whisper something in the fallen man's ear before making his way swiftly back to the car and getting Ianto in and buckled as quickly as possible.

As they'd driven back to Torchwood Jack had told Ianto that he and Major Smith had been involved a long time ago and had stopped seeing each other when Jack found out what he was really like. Once they were safely back in the hub Jack had asked Tosh to get the young girl settled somewhere for the night and taken Ianto up into his office to check him over and make sure he wasn't hurt. Aside from a large bruise that came up on his face the following morning Ianto had been unharmed, but it was the gentle, loving way Jack had checked him over and taken care of him that Ianto remembered the most about that night.

When Major Smith had arrived in the SGC briefing room that afternoon he'd immediately scanned the room for Ianto. As soon as he'd spotted him a satisfied smirk had spread across his face and without even introducing himself to the rest of the people in the room he'd begun his attack. Ianto had sat there frozen in shock as the Major had accused him of being a spy for Torchwood. When he'd finally found his voice he'd argued back saying that he was no longer affiliated with Torchwood and that Major Smith evidently had no idea what he was talking about.

They'd argued about it for a long time, not just Major Smith and Ianto but the rest of the people in the room too. His colleagues had stood up for him, including Paul; the other people from UNIT had helped Major Smith argue his case. Finally, after every other accusation had been rebuffed Major Smith got to the real point of his visit. Ianto had honestly been expecting it all along but he'd hoped like hell he was wrong…he wasn't. Major Smith's words bounced around in his head.

"Do you honestly expect us to believe that any single member of Torchwood, yourself especially, would just walk away from the organisation to join another? I know you, Ianto Jones, and I know your team, everyone of you is as loyal as a dog to your precious captain and none of you would ever betray him…unless of course there's something you're not telling us?" he'd asked suggestively and it had taken every ounce of strength Ianto possessed not to leap across the desk and beat the life out of the man where he sat.

Major Smith hadn't come to question his loyalty to the SGC, he'd come to rub Ianto's face in the fact that he'd been right! Somehow Ianto had managed to keep his cool and he'd argued that it had simply been time for him to move on. The gleeful look in Major Smith's eyes told him that the other man hadn't bought his explanation and it made Ianto want to kill him even more, especially when the other man instantly gave up his fight and admitted that he'd perhaps been mistaken about Ianto's affiliations.

He'd turned gleeful eyes back to Ianto then and spoken to him in Welsh, probably figuring no one else in the room would understand him. Evidently he had no idea who Daniel was otherwise he wouldn't have been so cocky as to risk his own career.

"He left you didn't he? Just like I told you he would. You see, I was right after all, you were nothing to him just like I was."

Ianto had responded to the other man's words in English, telling him that he was a pathetic excuse for a human being before asking Jack if he could be excused, needing to leave the room before he fell apart.

Ianto closed his eyes feeling the tears slip down his face as the Major's words assaulted his mind. He'd tried to block them out and push them aside but it hadn't worked. The words had cut him to the very core just like Major Smith knew they would.

"Are you okay?" he heard a voice ask from behind him and he turned around to see Daniel looking back at him worriedly.

Ianto nodded slightly and turned back to look at the sky.

"I understood what he said to you before, was he talking about Jack?" Daniel asked softly.

Ianto nodded again as another bout of tears threatened to spill over. He heard Daniel's footsteps approaching and the next thing he knew the other man was beside him.

"What happened between you and Smith, why would he come all the way here to rub it in about Jack?" he asked quietly.

"He's one of Jack's Ex's," Ianto replied as evenly as he could. "He and Jack ended badly and the only time I ever met him before tonight he told me that Jack would use me and throw me away like he did with everyone. I didn't believe him at the time, more fool me I guess. In the end he was right, Jack did use me and throw me away when he didn't want me anymore, just like Major Smith said. What happened today was his way of rubbing my face in it, showing me that he'd been right. You have no idea how much I wish he wasn't," Ianto said swiping at a tear that escaped his eyes.

He felt Daniel's arm wrap around him and the archaeologist pulled him close. "I'm sorry," he whispered softly, "that was an awful, petty thing for him to do and you didn't deserve to have your loyalty questioned like that even if it wasn't the bastard's main aim. But you were brilliant in there. I don't know how you managed to keep from belting the living tar out of Smith but you did, you were the bigger man, you should be so proud of yourself, Ianto."

Ianto nodded and looked down. "I wish I could feel that right now," he replied quietly.

Daniel nodded in return and ran his hand soothingly down Ianto's upper arm. "I know," he replied. For a while there was silence, then Daniel spoke again. "Listen, I know you aren't feeling all that great right now but our Jack wants to see you."

Ianto looked up at Daniel sadly, "Does he think I'm a spy?" he asked worried that the General was calling him back in to be fired.

"I don't think so," Daniel replied reassuringly, "I think he just wants to see if you're okay."

"Okay," Ianto agreed quietly, "just give me a minute to look human."

"It's okay, there's no rush," Daniel replied removing his arm from around Ianto so he could wipe his face and fix his tie. Ianto smoothed down his jacket and took a deep breath before turning back to face the archaeologist.

"Okay, let's go."

XX

When Ianto re-entered the briefing room he was surprised to find not only Jack present but the rest of SG1 and Major Davis as well. They all looked up as he entered and he couldn't place the look they all had in their eyes. There was anger there, that much was certain, but it wasn't directed at him and there was something else too.

General O'Neill approached him and placed a gentle hand on his arm. "Are you all right?" he asked quietly.

"Yes, Sir," Ianto replied, "I'm sorry I left the room before, Sir."

"Oh don't be sorry for that, if it were me I would have done a lot worse," the general replied dismissively. "I have to ask though, what is his problem with you? I don't like people waltzing in here questioning the loyalty of my staff, but if it were just that I could deal with it. I know it's not though and I need to know why he was here."

Ianto looked at Jack for a moment before pulling away and moving to stand over at the window overlooking the Stargate. He had to give Jack a truthful reply but he couldn't tell him everything especially not after what Davis had told him. Finally he took a deep breath to steel himself before replying. "Major Smith and I have a history and his dislike of me stems from that. You're right he wasn't here to question my loyalty that was just an excuse to come down here and attack me the only way he could." He looked over at Daniel for a moment and said. "I didn't get to tell you this before but I think it's better if you all hear it anyway."

Ianto explained the story about the girl Torchwood had found and the fight they eventually won against UNIT to protect her. When it came to the personal bits he explained that Major Smith had attacked him and Jack had retaliated but not what the man had said, it was his personal business and not anyone else's.

"I guess Smith figured that now I was away from Captain's Harkness' protection he could get his revenge on me for beating him. He was right before when he said Torchwood were a tight knit group of people, whether we liked each other or not we would defend each other to out last breath because we were all there was. We were all like that, but none more so than Captain Harkness. Nobody came near us without going through him and if we were threatened…" Ianto trailed off with a shake of his head. "Major Smith was lucky to get away with just a broken nose that night; it could have been a whole lot worse for him. I guess he figured I wouldn't have that protection here and he could use that to his advantage."

"If what you're saying is true then I'm afraid to say I have to repeat one of Smith's earlier questions, why did you leave Torchwood?" Sam asked. Ianto studied her for a moment. She wasn't looking at him accusingly if anything she looked worried and if he hadn't felt so awful he would have smiled. As it was he couldn't tell them about Jack so he told them the reason he'd been close to leaving Torchwood in the past.

"Because Captain Harkness shot my girlfriend." He saw the shocked look on all of their faces so he continued. "It wasn't his fault, she wasn't herself anymore and she wanted to kill us all. Like I said before Captain Harkness protects his team well, even if it means having to hurt one of them to do it. He saved all of us that day and even though it hurt at the time I knew he did. The thing was every time I looked at him I remembered what happened that day and even though I forgave him I could never forget. Some people have the capacity to move on from things like that, but I couldn't. In the end it was for the best that I leave and I did so with the Captain's blessing –Ianto didn't mention that he hadn't given the immortal man the choice- but I'm not a Torchwood spy. Torchwood three have no reason to spy on the SGC. If anything the two sides would have made good allies, both sides strive for the same thing." Ianto finished looking over at Jack. "I'm sorry that Major Smith's personal dislike for me caused you such an inconvenience, I honestly never thought he'd go that far." He paused for a moment before asking. "Are you going to fire me?"

Jack looked at him with a mixture of shock and alarm. "No, this wasn't your fault, Ianto. As it is it was doing your job well that got you into this situation in the first place, I'd be mad to let you go because of it. No, I just wanted to get your side of the story before I spoke to UNIT and told them to start locking up their dogs. Major Davis, I'm sure you can help me with that." He said turning his attention to Paul.

"It would be my pleasure, General," Paul replied with a smile.

"Good, we'll deal with this first thing Monday morning. In the mean time I think we could all do with a little food. Anyone know a place around here that makes good cake?" the General asked.

XX

That night after dinner was over the group, including Paul, made their way over to General O'Neill's house for a drink. They had a good night together talking and laughing and Ianto had more fun than he'd had in ages outside of the nights he'd spent with Daniel recently. When it got later and everyone else had headed home or to bed Daniel and Ianto were alone on the couch finishing off a great bottle of wine Sam had bought on her way there.

"How are you feeling now, better?" Daniel asked quietly.

"A lot better, it was really nice of everyone to include me tonight, I had a really good time," Ianto replied with a smile.

"You're one of us now, you're part of the team, of course we'd include you. Besides, I'm pretty sure Jack planned this to cheer you up and make you feel more comfortable around the rest of us. He wants you to be happy here," Daniel said with a grin.

"I know, he told me that once," Ianto replied his smile widening as he took another sip of his wine.

"You didn't tell them about you and Captain Harkness."

Ianto's smile died as he looked up at the archaeologist once more. "There are some things I'd rather not share with everyone. Besides, from what I heard today men like me aren't welcome in the American Air force."

"Do you think Jack would have fired you if you'd told him?" Daniel asked.

"I don't think he would have wanted to, but rules are rules," Ianto replied looking down at his glass for a moment. "Do you think I did the wrong thing not telling them?"

"I don't think you did anything wrong per se, I just think you might be worrying about this more than you need to. The SGC is a good place and SG1 are good people, so is Paul otherwise Jack wouldn't be including him you shouldn't feel like you need to hide from them." Daniel told him quietly.

"Maybe not, but as it was all the things I told them today were more than I ever wanted any of them to know about me. I don't talk about myself, Daniel, I don't feel comfortable doing it, I never have, not even with Lisa and she and I were together for years," Ianto explained.

"You talk to me and you seem to be okay with that. What about Captain Harkness didn't you talk to him while you were together?" Daniel asked.

"You're different, I feel…comfortable around you, don't ask me why because I don't even know, I just do. And as for Jack, yes, I did talk to him, I told him everything. I trusted him more than anyone and look what he did with that trust. You have no idea how difficult it is for me to trust anyone anymore. I don't want to be like this but I am and there's nothing I can do to change that, believe me I wish there were. This is just who I am," Ianto explained.

Daniel nodded, "Okay, I guess we'll have to work on that. I know there's always going to be things you keep to yourself; everybody has the right to keep their private life private. I just want you to know you don't have to if you don't want to. You can talk to us, any of us and we will keep your confidence, I want you to know that, okay."

"Okay," Ianto agreed with a nod studying his hands.

It was silent for a few moments before Daniel spoke again. "Oh, that's right; I wanted to ask you something."

Ianto looked up at him curiously. "What is it?" he asked.

"Well, I know you've been living on the base and with all the work Jack does in a day I'm sure you're probably too busy to look for a place so I wanted to run an idea by you," Daniel began.

"Okay," Ianto agreed.

"I live in a really nice part of town, it's close to work and the neighbourhood is really lovely. I spend a lot of time off world so I'm not there all the time and I have plenty of room and a door man and a really good coffee machine and…well…I was wondering if you'd like to come and move in with me," Daniel finally asked.

Ianto was so shocked by the question he didn't notice how nervous Daniel sounded asking it. "You…you want me to come and live with you?" he asked for clarification.

"Um…yeah. Like I said before I have plenty of room and I'm not home all the time so you wouldn't necessarily see me every day. You'd have your own space and a parking space in the garage under the building. It would give you a change to get away from the SGC for a while and live out in the sun again, plus Jack would stop worrying about you living on the base. You could stay as long as you wanted, even if it was just until you found somewhere else to stay, or you could stay longer it's up to you. It's just I have this lovely, big apartment and it seems a waste to have just me living in it. Anyway it's just an offer; you can take a while to think about it if you want to but I thought it might be nice." Daniel finished and Ianto had finally recovered from his shock enough to notice Daniel's nerves.

"You're exceptionally nervous right now aren't you?" he asked studying the other man.

"Well, this isn't a question I ask people every day," Daniel replied.

"Good point," Ianto replied mulling over the question for a moment. Daniel did have a nice, big apartment, and he would be lovely to have as a room-mate, plus they'd get to spend more time together. It would save Ianto the time and energy of looking for a place himself and Jack would stop worrying about him. Really where was the down side? "Sure, I'd like that, thank you," he agreed.

XX

end of chapter.

So what do we think? Did Daniel's question surprise you? Reviews will be rewarded with virtual hugs :)


	6. The Holiday Part 1

"Morning, Jack," Ianto greeted the General with a smile as he entered the office with coffee.

"Good morning, Ianto, what's my agenda look like today?" the General asked in return.

"You have a meeting with a couple of representatives from the Pentagon first up, that's about 15 mins away. After that you have a briefing with SG4, one with SG6 and a debriefing with SG12," Ianto replied with a smile handing over the cup of caffeinated gold.

Jack took the cup with a smile and after taking a long sip smiled up at Ianto cheerfully and asked. "And what, Mr Jones do I have to do after that?"

"After that you head home, grab your bags and head out to your lake house for a fortnight of fishing and relaxation," Ianto replied with a grin.

"And what will you be doing?" Jack asked.

"I will be grabbing the rest of SG1 and making them head home to do the same," Ianto replied.

"And after that?" Jack prompted.

"I will be heading to the airport to collect Tosh before making my way out to join you," Ianto replied his grin growing wider.

"Damn right you will be," Jack replied. "And we are going to have the most relaxing holiday anyone has ever had. Now, I am going to drink this coffee then we are going to get everything done as quickly as possible so we can leave, all right."

"Yes, Sir," Ianto replied.

"Good man," Jack responded before taking another long swallow of his drink.

XX

Thanks to the holiday plans Jack was quite chipper all day, he even managed to be nice to the Pentagon representatives and both men left the room looking somewhat flabbergasted. By the end of the day both men were sitting in the debriefing with SG12 trying to look interested in the rocks they were holding and Ianto was the only one managing even a slightly convincing performance. Eventually though it was over and Ianto had rounded up SG1 and ensured they were on their way home before heading to the airport. He had to admit he wasn't the biggest fan of fishing but he was so damn excited about the prospect of seeing Tosh again he didn't care what they did while she was there.

It had been a few months since the meeting incident with Major Smith and Ianto was happy to say there hadn't been any more unpleasant incidents with UNIT since. Of course that could have been something to do with the very nasty phone call Jack made to them the Monday after it happened, but Ianto didn't care how it came about as long as it did. Ianto had moved in with Daniel the following weekend and was happy to say things were going well. Daniel was a great house mate and the two of them were getting along better than Ianto ever imagined. Of course Ianto's attraction to Daniel was slowly growing stronger but he was trying to ignore that at the moment and focus on other things, like learning Ancient which he was getting rather good at.

He'd gotten closer to SG1 and Paul as well over the last couple of months and was pleased to say they were fast becoming the best friends he'd ever had outside of Tosh. All in all his life was going really well and he couldn't wait to get away for the fortnight with his friends. He was sure Tosh would fit right in with everyone, particularly Sam who would no doubt have tons to talk about with the Torchwood computer genius.

When he'd first left Torchwood he'd hummed and ha-ad about whether or not he should call Tosh. She had been his best friend back in Cardiff but because of the circumstances he hadn't had a chance to say goodbye to her and he didn't know how she'd respond to a phone call from him. Eventually Daniel prodded him into trying and he'd called her, a decision he would forever be thankful he'd made because she was as thrilled to hear from him as he was to be calling. They'd kept in regular contact since that day and when he told her about the plans to head to Jack's cabin in the woods for a fortnight she was more than eager to come. He asked Jack the next day and was surprised by the other man's willingness to agree. He asked the others about it later and they explained that Jack trusted Ianto so if Ianto trusted Tosh Jack would too. Ianto felt pretty good after that.

So Tosh had organised to have the time off work and at last the start of their holiday was here. Ianto paced the terminal waiting for Tosh's plane to land and as soon as the hostesses opened the doors to allow people out he was bowled over by a bundle of Tosh. It took a while to get through customs but they were so busy catching up they barely noticed. As soon as they were out they were in Ianto's car and heading for Jack's lake house.

"Martha is working for Torchwood now," Tosh told Ianto as they drove. "Jack's also hired a girl called Lois to take care of the office tasks."

Ianto nodded. "I figured it wouldn't be long before he replaced me, the Starbucks' around the bay aren't that great."

Tosh giggled, "No they're not, still, her coffee is nowhere near as good as yours. In fact it leaves a lot to be desired," she explained wrinkling her nose in a way that made Ianto laugh. "But enough about Torchwood, tell me more about the people you work with," Tosh asked.

"Well, Jack's my boss, I know, I seem to get bosses called Jack a lot. He's a great boss, very strong, very fair, he treats everyone equally but he doesn't take crap from anyone. He is also incredibly funny; you'll see what I mean when we get to the lake house. Overall he's just a nice guy, I couldn't ask for a better boss," Ianto finished.

"He sounds nice," Tosh replied. "Who else is there?"

"There's Sam, you are going to love her. She's very smart like you, but like Jack she's also very strong, nobody gets one over her. There's Teal'c, he's not human he's a Jaffar. He's very quiet but full of amazing stories and interesting information and I've never met a better fighter. He's very big and very frightening to an enemy but he's lovely, very polite and well mannered. There are a few human things he doesn't quite understand so he says some funny things sometimes too which help to brighten our days. Paul is coming along too he's a major from the Pentagon. Gorgeous, very polite and well mannered, pretty quiet. You'll like him he's really nice. Janet is coming along as well she's the doctor at the SGC. I don't know her all that well, she's been off for quite a while with an injury but she seems pretty nice," Ianto described most of the other holidayers.

"And I probably know more about Daniel than his friends do," Tosh added making Ianto smile. "Is there anyone else?"

"Not that I know of, I'm pretty sure that's everyone," Ianto replied.

"Great. So tell me what's happening between you and Mr Sexy archaeologist, anything?" Tosh asked with a grin.

"We're just friends, Tosh," Ianto replied.

"Uh huh, yeah, I believe you," Tosh replied sarcastically.

"We are," Ianto argued, "nothing else is happening between us."

"Ah but you want something to happen don't you?" Tosh prodded.

"Not right now no," Ianto replied.

"Liar," Tosh shot back with a sly grin.

"I'm not lying," Ianto argued. "I'm happy with how things are right now between us. Besides, as much as I'm starting to get over what happened with Jack I'm not quite there yet and I don't want my next relationship to be a rebound," Ianto finished looking meaningfully at Tosh.

Tosh nodded. "Yeah I guess you're right," she replied looking down at her hands. "How are you going with all of that?" she asked looking up once more.

Ianto shrugged. "I'm getting there, I think. It's been hard and Major Smith turning up at the base didn't help matters, but I'm okay…I have to be." Ianto replied turning his attention to the road in front of him.

Tosh nodded once more and the car was silent for a few moments before Tosh spoke again. "So, have you been to this place before?" she asked brightly obviously trying to change the subject which Ianto was grateful for.

"Actually no, I think a couple of the others have but this'll be my first time. I've been to Jack's other house which is closer to the base and it's pretty nice, apparently where we're going is even nicer so I'm looking forward to it," Ianto replied with a smile.

Tosh smiled back. "Well then, bring on the fishing," she said energetically.

Ianto studied her for a moment before asking, "Have you ever actually been fishing?"

"Not ever," Tosh replied seriously. "But really, how hard can it be? Hang on; let me take that question back."

Ianto laughed, "Yes, what follows that question is almost always bad," he agreed.

"Well it can't be too bad, Owen and Gwen aren't here," Tosh replied causing Ianto to laugh.

"And thank god for that," he agreed as they turned into the road which led to Jack's cabin.

XX

To say Tosh was well received by the group would have been an understatement. As it turned out she and Ianto had arrived at just the right time because Jack had just started up the barbeque and was waiting for it to heat up before he slapped the meat down onto it. He was just walking out of the kitchen when Ianto and Tosh walked through the door so he was the first one she met. Ianto introduced him and he shook her hand before asking how she liked her steak and quietly informing her it would be well done whatever she said. She laughed and told him that was just how she liked it anyway.

"Ah, good woman, you'll fit right in here," he told her before giving her a smile and heading back outside with the plate full of steak in his hands.

Sam was the next one to meet her along with Janet and Paul who were in the kitchen cutting up ingredients for salad and preparing the other sides to go along with the steak for dinner. Ianto introduced them and they all greeted her with friendly, welcoming smiles not shaking her hand since they were handling the food. Jack re-entered the room then and led them down the hall to where they'd be sleeping. Ianto had checked with Tosh when he'd invited her for the holiday if she was okay with them sleeping in the same bed while at the cabin and Tosh had no issue with that. Jack showed them to the room and showed them where everything was before heading back outside and Ianto and Tosh dropped their stuff on the floor before heading back out to the kitchen to offer help.

When they returned it was to find that Teal'c and Daniel had headed inside looking for Ianto and Tosh to say hello and she finally got to meet the archaeologist she'd heard so much about. She played it cool of course not letting on just how much she'd heard about him as she shook his hand and told him it was a pleasure to meet him. She smiled up at Teal'c as he approached her and inclined his head slightly in greeting which Ianto had pre-warned her was his people's custom. She returned his greeting and he headed back outside to keep an eye on Jack, apparently there was some concern that the general may burn the steak if not properly supervised.

She watched as Daniel gave Ianto a warm smile and a gentle touch on the arm before following Teal'c back outside. She thought about that for a moment. It could very well mean he felt more than friendship for Ianto but without knowing the man she couldn't be sure of anything. He might just be one of those people who liked to touch others. Deciding that Daniel's mannerisms had to be more thoroughly studied she filed the thought away for later consideration and turned her attention back to the people in the kitchen.

She and Ianto walked in and offered help which was appreciated but politely declined as most of the preparation had already been done. Paul then came over with a glass of wine for both of them and Tosh took hers with a grateful thank you. The rest of the evening progressed quite pleasantly. The group sat outside on Jack's back deck eating steak (which was actually quite good), drinking beer and wine and enjoying an overall pleasant evening of camaraderie.

Tosh watched all of the interactions going on around her with intense interest. By the end of the evening she was feeling quite content in all regards including Ianto's new friendships. She'd always known that Ianto felt like the odd one out while he worked for Torchwood even after they'd all gotten over everything that happened with Lisa and started to act like a team again. Here, among this new group of people, she could see that Ianto truly belonged. He'd found his place in the world and she was so very happy for him she couldn't put it into words. Of course she missed him, but at least now that she'd met those who surrounded him these days she knew he was cared for and she felt a little better about him being so far away.

It was nearing the early hours of the morning before the group headed to bed. Sadly, with the time difference, Tosh found she couldn't sleep for long and awoke quite early the next morning. The sun hadn't quite risen yet but the sky was lightening at least so she slipped on a pair of jeans, a shirt and a jacket and sneaked out of the room careful not to wake Ianto. She made it to the kitchen quietly and poured herself a glass of water before deciding to head outside onto the back veranda to see what sort of view of the sunrise the cabin offered.

She took a seat on one of Jack's deck chairs and watched contently as the sun peeked its head over the horizon, its light spilling through the gaps in the trees surrounding Jack's property. It had been a long time since Tosh had seen a sunrise without having been up all night either chasing aliens or simply on the night shift and even longer since it had been somewhere other than a busy city. The last time she'd been in the country was something she really didn't want to remember so she immediately pushed aside the memories that came up at that thought.

The sun was about half way through its ascent behind the trees when the sound of footsteps alerted Tosh to the fact that she was no longer alone. She looked over to see Teal'c approaching from a clump of trees off to one side of the lake and she smiled at him in greeting as he approached. He climbed the few steps up to the deck quickly and bid her good morning which she returned pleasantly.

"I did not expect anyone else to have risen yet," Teal'c stated lowering himself onto the chair beside hers with far more grace than she would ever have expected from a man his size.

Truth be told she found Teal'c to be one of the sexiest men she'd ever seen particularly now that he had obviously been out exercising and was wearing a lot less than he had been the previous evening. She briefly wondered what it would be like to touch all the lovely muscles she could currently see before pushing the thought aside in favour of replying to his comment.

"I couldn't sleep anymore; jet lag," she added by way of explanation.

"What is this jet lag?" Teal'c asked curiously tilting his head to the side in a way that made Tosh think of a curious puppy (if that curious puppy was tall, dark, sexy and full of muscles).

"It's something we humans use to describe how flying from one time zone to another affects our bodies," Tosh explained. "I'm assuming you know that our planet, probably like yours, functions in different time zones due to its daily revolution?" she asked.

"Indeed," Teal's agreed with a nod.

"Well, where I come from it would be early evening at the moment so I would only just be thinking about dinner whereas here it's almost time to think about breakfast. Different time zones effect people in different ways, some people get really tired and lethargic other people have difficulty sleeping. In my case I work for Torchwood and I'm used to keeping strange hours so it shouldn't take me long to adjust as I'm assuming it wouldn't take you long if you were in my position seeing as you travel to different planets a lot and their time zones can't be the same as yours. It's called jet lag because you usually get to where you're going on our planet by aeroplane," she finished with a nod before saying. "Sorry if that was more information than you needed, I'm used to explaining things in detail in my job...I do it a lot," she explained.

Teal'c smiled at her, "Not at all, many of the answers I receive come from O'Neill and they are often...vague in nature. Unlike you explanations are not his strength," he said pleasantly.

"He seems lovely though," Tosh noted with a smile of her own, "Everyone does, I'm really glad to see that Ianto's found such a nice group of people to spend time with here, I was really worried about him after he left."

"Ianto Jones is a good man; he has become a valued member of our team as well as a valued friend. We are all very pleased that he decided to join us," Teal'c replied with a kind expression.

"I am too," Tosh replied honestly.

"Do you not miss working with Ianto Jones yourself?" Teal'c asked curiously.

"Oh, of course I do. I just think he's better off here, he seems happier which is really good to see," Tosh replied.

Teal'c inclined his head before turning his attention to the lake. "It is very serene here," he noted quietly.

Tosh smiled, "Yeah it is," she agreed. "That's why I didn't mind being awake so early, it's been so long since I've had the chance to watch a sunrise, it was nice sitting out here in the quiet, watching the sun sneak up being the trees," she said wistfully.

"If you wish it I could go inside and leave you in peace," Teal'c offered.

Tosh immediately shook her head, "No, not at all, I'm quite enjoying your company," she replied with a smile for the Jaffar. "Why don't you stay out here and watch with me, it's quite beautiful," she offered.

Teal'c returned her smile. "Very well," he agreed quietly and sat back in the chair just in time to watch the sun peek over the tree tops and cover the cabin and them in bright golden light.

XX

The day consisted of breakfast, fishing, lunch, fishing, dinner, fishing and for those who weren't quite so fishing inclined it also included cards, chess, sparing, reading and some rather in depth conversation (mostly from Sam and Tosh but occasionally including Paul, Daniel or Ianto). When dinner was over the group gathered around Jack's flat screen with popcorn, drinks and other various snacks to watch a football match Jack had been waiting for all the previous week. It was a nice, relaxing day and as much as Tosh was not at all a fan of football or fishing she found herself looking forward to the rest of the fortnight she'd be spending at the cabin with Ianto and the others from the SGC.

Once the game was over the group headed to bed, eager for an early night after the late one the previous evening. Tosh managed a few hours once again before waking up only this time it was midnight rather than sunrise. She slipped out of bed and headed to the kitchen to find a drink of water. She walked into the hall way and was surprised to find a light already on in the kitchen. She headed down there silently and when she turned the corner it was to find Daniel standing at the sink, a glass of water in his hand.

He looked up as she entered the room and gave her a friendly smile. "Hi," he greeted quietly.

"Hi," she greeted returning his smile.

"What are you doing up? Couldn't sleep?" Daniel asked.

"Jet lag, you?" Tosh asked in return.

"Just thinking, you know when your mind wanders and doesn't want to stop," Daniel replied.

Tosh nodded, "I know that feeling all too well," she replied.

Daniel hummed in agreement and looked down at his glass for a moment before looking up at her once more and asking. "Oh, sorry, did you want some water?"

"Yes actually, thank you," Tosh replied, she'd completely forgotten about the water until Daniel had asked.

The archaeologist placed his own cup down on the sink before heading over to the cupboard to retrieve another. He asked if she wanted cold water or just tap water and filled the cup from the tap when she asked for it. He handed it to her and she took it with a quiet thanks.

"Well then, since we're both awake do you want to do something?" Daniel offered. "We could play chess or something that usually helps put me to sleep."

"Sure, why not," Tosh agreed with a smile and Daniel led the way into the lounge room where the chess board was already set up and sitting on a little table under one of the windows from a game earlier in the day. Daniel grabbed the board and the table and brought them over to the couch before motioning for Tosh to sit down. Tosh took the black pieces and Daniel the white and they began to play.

After a few minutes of nothing but chess chatter Daniel spoke. "May I ask you a question?"

"Of course," Tosh replied.

"Ianto talks to you a lot and I was just wondering, is he happy here?" Daniel asked. "I mean I know he says he is when we ask but is he really?"

Tosh smiled, Daniel really was such a lovely person. "Yes," she told the archaeologist with a nod, "Yes he's very happy. I think this is possibly the happiest he's been since I've known him."

Daniel smiled, it was beautiful. "Really?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah, really," Tosh replied.

Daniel nodded looking down at the chess board in front of him. "Good, that's good," he said.

"Can I ask you something now?" Tosh asked.

"Of course," Daniel repeated her answer looking up at her once more.

"Your friend, Teal'c, is he seeing anyone?" Tosh asked.

Daniel simply stared at her in what she would probably guess was shock for several moments before asking. "Teal'c?"

Tosh nodded, "Yeah, Teal'c," she replied.

"Wow! Um no, not as far as I'm aware," Daniel replied to her original question. "I mean he was married when we first met him but that was a long time ago and she sadly passed away only shortly after Teal'c joined forces with us," he explained.

"Oh, wow that's really sad," Tosh replied feeling sorry for the Jaffar.

"Are you asking because you're interested?" Daniel asked. "I know that may sound like an obvious question but I wouldn't want to mistake your intentions."

Tosh giggled quietly. "Oh yes, I'm definitely interested. I wasn't sure what to do about it though; I'm still not to be honest. I mean he's an alien so he probably has completely different customs to us right? Not to mention I don't know if he even thinks I'm attractive or what his race find attractive in a woman-"

"I could find out for you," Daniel offered interrupting Tosh's musing with a conspiratorial expression.

"Could you?" Tosh asked returning his expression with a mischievous one of her own.

"I don't see why not. I have to admit I'm curious as to what Teal'c thinks about such matters. I'll ask him for you, see if he has any interest," Daniel decided moving his attention back to the chess board to consider his next move.

"You asked me a second question; does that mean I can ask you another?" Tosh asked with a sly smile.

Daniel looked somewhat apprehensive but he nodded. "Okay, what do you want to know?" he asked.

"You and Ianto?" Tosh began.

"Yeah," Daniel prompted.

"Just what exactly is going on there?" she asked leaning forward slightly to look him in the eyes

Daniel blushed and looked at her in what she thought could only be shocked surprise. "Me and Ianto?" he asked as if to clarify what she meant.

"Yes, you and Ianto, what exactly is between you two?" she asked. She knew from Ianto that there wasn't anything at the moment but she was curious to see what Daniel thought of the whole idea.

Daniel's blush seemed to deepen as he shook his head. "We're friends; that's all. I mean we're really good friends but not anything else," he replied. "Why? Did Ianto say something that would make you think otherwise?"

Tosh shook her head. "No, Ianto's told me the same thing you just did, that you're just friends," Tosh reassured the other man. "I was just wondering if maybe my friend was keeping a little something from me, that's all." for a moment the room was silent, then Tosh spoke again

"Is there any chance that there's going to be anything else between you two?" she asked inching a little closer toward the archaeologist.

"You do know that's another question you're asking me I only owed you the one," Daniel said and Tosh could tell he was trying to avoid the subject of his feelings.

"Yes but this is a bonus question I have automatically earned by being the guest here," Tosh replied with a smirk causing Daniel to chuckle.

"You are one sneaky lady, Miss Sato."

"I work for Torchwood, Doctor Jackson," Tosh replied in explanation.

"What in the hell are you two doing up at this hour?" Jack's tired, cranky voice drew their attention to the general who was standing in the door way looking at them like they were crazy.

"We couldn't sleep," Tosh explained.

"Well try again," Jack ordered in his cranky boss/overprotective father figure tone that only an idiot would dare argue with. "We'll be up early tomorrow you need a good night's sleep."

Daniel and Tosh headed back to their rooms with a quiet, "Yes Jack," that made Tosh giggle at how much it reminded her of being at Torchwood. She knew she wouldn't be able to get to sleep for a while but she felt a bit better knowing she'd given Daniel something else to think about and she doubted he'd get to sleep any quicker than her.

XX

Daniel stripped down to his boxers and slipped into bed. He could have kissed Jack for walking out and sending them to bed when he had, he wasn't sure why but Tosh's question had really thrown him. Ianto was his friend, just his friend, and while he enjoyed spending time with the other man, found him the best house mate he'd ever had, never got sick of him, and knew Ianto had some interest in men, he'd never thought about the other man that way. He'd never thought of any man that way, not even Jack and they were closer than most friends ever got to be.

So why had Tosh's question thrown him like it had? Sure he hadn't expected it, especially out of her seeing as she was usually so quiet, but it would have been only too easy to simply tell her no and be done with it. So why hadn't he? Did he feel something for Ianto he hadn't realized before?

He let his thoughts wander to his friend. Ianto was a lovely person, kind, considerate, smart. He had a great sense of humour, impeccable taste in everything, he and Daniel had a whole lot in common, more than he'd ever had in common with anyone and Daniel absolutely loved spending time with him but none of this added up to attraction, not really, he felt a great amount of affinity with the rest of SG1 as well and he wasn't in love with them, not like that.

He thought about Ianto physically. He was a good looking man there was no doubt about that. Well dressed, neat, tidy, Daniel would never deny that the man always looked fantastic, it was just who Ianto was. So yes he found the man very good looking but was he attracted to him? Daniel had never thought about it before, maybe it was something he'd have to start paying attention to. Well, he had just under a fortnight to think about it before they went back to work, surely he'd be able to work out what he felt in that time.

Settling down he closed his eyes trying to quiet his mind so he could go back to sleep. He was just drifting off when a thought occurred to him; for someone who'd never been attracted to a man before he was taking the idea of possibly having feelings for one very calmly. Maybe that was all the answer he needed.

XX

The next few days flew by for the holiday goers. Tosh finally got her sleeping schedule down pat by the third day and wasn't suffering any more Jet lag, thank you Torchwood. Daniel, as promised had asked Teal'c about his interest in women and while the other man gave him a look that clearly said he was questioning Daniel's sanity he answered all the questions until Daniel mentioned Tosh; the Jaffar got even more that characteristically quiet after that. He relayed his information back to Tosh who gave him a look that said she was still waiting on his answer to her question. Daniel gave her a cryptic remark he'd devised to keep her guessing while he worked out the answer for himself. He'd then spent the next few days watching Ianto and thinking about the other man, how they interacted and what he felt for him.

The times in between all of this were spent fishing, sleeping and generally relaxing as they had done the first day they were there. They took walks through the forest as a group in the afternoons before heading back to the house and taking turns making dinner.

By the end of the fifth day they were all feeling very relaxed and at ease with each other and the world in general. They had dinner, played a few hands of poker and watched a hockey game before retiring to bed. Tosh lay down beside Ianto and smiled at her friend. "This is really nice you know, spending time here with you and others, thank you for inviting me," she said sincerely.

Ianto returned her smile. "You don't have to thank me; I'm just as happy that you're here with me, honestly. I missed you, Tosh, more than I miss anything else back at Torchwood," he confessed.

"Are you sure about that?" Tosh asked quietly knowing she'd likely ruin his good mood but worried about how he was faring without Jack and wondering how honest he'd been with her on their trip from the airport.

Ianto gave her a soft smile and reached forward to pull her into a gently hug. "Yes, I'm sure," he replied kissing her on the top of her head. "It was hard, but I'm getting over it, Tosh. I'm not going to say it doesn't hurt, like I said that first night after I collected you from the airport it's been hard. But being here, doing a job where people actually appreciate me for what I do and meeting people who actually treat me like a friend and not a human Hoover that magically makes coffee," -Tosh giggled quietly at that- "it's making things easier. I'm going to be okay and for the first time in my life I can say that and actually believe it," Ianto admitted.

Tosh smiled and snuggled up to him tighter. "I'm really happy for you, Ianto,"

"Thanks, Tosh," he replied pulling her closer as he felt himself drifting off to sleep. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Ianto."

XX

It was almost nothing; a creak out in the hall way that could easily have been caused by the change in temperature outside, but Ianto was immediately awake. He opened his eyes a crack, thankful that he'd fallen asleep in a position that allowed him to see the door which was open just enough to see through. A shadow moved silently on the wall across the hall and Ianto knew what that shadow proceeded. Reaching into the nook between the bed and the bedside table he slipped his gun, kept from his days at Torchwood, from the holster as silently as he could. It could be someone from their group up getting a drink, but somehow he had a feeling it wasn't, one of them would have simply turned the light on and they wouldn't be sneaking down the hall.

He gently shook Tosh and when she opened her eyes placed his finger to his lips before whispering that there was someone in the house. Tosh, immediately alert, turned a little in his arms so she could watch the door. They both tensed as a figure sneaked past their door, followed shortly by another. They had to warn the others, whoever it was they were kitted up in a very serious way. Suddenly the door to their room began to slowly open and Ianto closed his eyes almost all of the way, sure Tosh would be doing the same. The gun was in his hand but still hidden by the bedside table, as soon as the man was close enough he'd pull it out and fire. The man studied them for a moment before pulling a weapon that looked like a small hand gun out of a holster on his hip. He moved to point it at them and Ianto whipped his hand gun out and fired.

The man howled in pain and Ianto leapt out of bed, pulling Tosh with him. He immediately grabbed the lamp from the bedside table and swung it down smashing it on the man's head and knocking him out cold all the while yelling out to the others in the house to wake up. There was a sudden yell further down the hallway and the sound of gun shots echoed through the house. Frightened for his friends Ianto raced out of the room, barely noticing that Tosh was behind him. He could see fighting going on in the hallway and raced down to help, but as he passed the doorway to Daniel's room he saw the archaeologist lying on the floor holding his stomach. He slid to a stop as did Tosh and she, having run at a slightly slower pace and being able to stop before him, preceded him into the room.

He didn't see the invader standing behind the door until it was already too late. He grabbed Tosh and pulled her back as the man fired. Pain exploded through his arms as he twisted to put his body between Tosh and their attacker, most likely catching bullets that would have otherwise hit the Asian woman. One more caught him in the shoulder as he finished his turn and dropped to his knees protecting her with his body. He felt her pull the gun from his hands somewhere in the middle of it all and the next thing he knew her arm was reaching around behind him to shoot the invader. The man fell with a loud thump but no sound, indicating that Tosh had hit her mark well.

"Ianto, Ianto, are you all right?" he heard Tosh call out to him frantically.

For a moment the pain overwhelmed him and he bit his lip to keep from crying out as black spots danced in front of his vision, his body voicing its desire to pass out and escape the pain. Then he remembered why he'd stopped in the first place and pulled himself painfully away from her.

"Are you all right?" he gasped.

"Yes, yes I'm fine," she reassured him her eyes filled with concern. "But you-"

"Daniel," he cut her off and began crawling over to where he'd seen the fallen man.

XX

End of part one.

Dum dum dah! The cliff hanger. I promise more will be coming soon. Reviews will speed up the next part 'hint hint'. Just kidding but please review I would love to know what you think.


	7. The Holiday Part 2

"Ianto!" Tosh called out to try and stop him but the sound of hurried footsteps approaching the room drew their attention to the door and the invader who was about to run into it. Before he could set foot in the room Tosh lifted the gun and fired catching the man somewhere near the throat.

Knowing she was more than capable of keeping watch Ianto crawled toward Daniel who was still in a ball on the floor moaning in pain.

"Daniel," he called to the other man quietly as he struggled to reach him, each move of his arms bringing more pain and more black spots in his vision. He shook his head and forced himself to continue until he reached Daniel's side. "Daniel, Daniel!" he called shaking the other man slightly.

"I…Ianto," Daniel groaned opening his pain-filled blue eyes and squinting up at him.

"Are you okay?" Ianto asked.

"Shot…stomach," Daniel managed to groan in reply before clutching his stomach and breathing heavily. "Wha…bout…you?" he managed after a few moments

Ianto dropped down beside the archaeologist, his arms refusing to hold him any longer and reached out with shaking fingers to where Daniel was holding his stomach adding whatever pressure he could. Daniel cried out in pain and Ianto apologised even though he knew Daniel would understand what he was doing.

After taking several deep, shaky breaths he saw Daniel force his eyes open once more. He saw the archaeologist study him for several moments before alarm filled his lovely blue orbs. "You're…hurt," he gasped. "Should be…holding…your arm."

Ianto shook his head. "I'll be fine," he promised the archaeologist.

"Ianto-" Daniel tried to argue but Ianto cut him off.

"I'll be fine…please…don't fight me," Ianto pleaded feeling the pain weakening him with every word.

Daniel's eyes burnt into his and Ianto saw fear, not for Daniel himself but for Ianto. "Don't die," Daniel pleaded barely above a whisper and before Ianto could answer Tosh was beside him holding a sheet over his arm.

Ianto closed his eyes and bit his lip to keep in the moan that threatened to escape as the pain of having the wounds compressed shot through his injured limb. "It's over now," she told them in a whisper, "we've won. Jack's called for help and Janet will be in here in a minute. Just hold on okay."

Ianto could hear the worry in her voice and he wanted to say something reassuring but the ache in his arms was increasing with each passing moment and he knew if he opened his mouth he wouldn't be able to keep in the cry of pain that was currently threatening to escape him.

"Ianto," he heard Daniel's worried voice call to him and he forced his eyes open to look at the archaeologist. He could see the fear still present in Daniel's lovely eyes and he felt one of the other man's fingers slip up to hold his hand the only way he could. Ianto gripped Daniel's hand under his in return, his eyes never leaving the archaeologist's expressive blue orbs. For what felt like hours they just looked at each other, each watching the other for any signs that they were weakening, then out of nowhere Janet was there along with Jack, Sam and Paul and the pair were being pulled gently apart so Janet could assess their wounds.

They continued to watch each other as their wounds were appraised, each watching to make sure the other was all right. He heard Janet order Tosh to keep the pressure on Ianto's wounds before informing Jack that he and Daniel would need immediate, emergency surgery. Jack, who had a phone up to his ear, barked an order to whoever was on the other end and the pair had a few seconds to share a concerned glance before light filled Ianto's vision and he suddenly found himself in a medical bay surrounded by doctors and nurses. It took him a second to realize that Jack must have had them beamed up by the Prometheus. It was mere moments before he felt the tell-tale sting of a drip being inserted into his arm and his last thought before his world was overcome with darkness was of Daniel and whether the other man was okay.

XX

Consciousness returned slowly with annoying beeping noises and far too bright lights. He could hear voices talking quietly beside him and he opened his eyes just enough to see Tosh and Paul sitting beside his bed talking quietly to Janet. He must have made a noise of some kind without realizing because their attention was suddenly drawn to him.

"Hey, you're awake, how are you feeling?" Janet asked moving to his side Tosh and Paul close behind.

"Like I've been shot," Ianto replied in a croak thanks to his dry throat.

Janet passed him a cup of water and he took it with a grateful "Thanks."

He took a slow sip knowing too much would just make him choke and thought back to how he'd come to be in the medical bay. Suddenly he remembered what had happened to Daniel and a cold, sick feeling of fear filled him. "Daniel," he asked the doctor frantically and Janet rushed to calm him.

"Daniel's fine, Ianto," she assured him. "We rushed him straight into theatre and everything went well, he's going to make a full recovery."

Relief washed through him so quickly it made him dizzy and he closed his eyes for a moment to compose himself before thanking the doctor quietly. The room was silent for the next little while which he was thankful for and when at last his heart had stopped racing he turned his thoughts to the rest of his friends. He hadn't really seen them after he'd been shot, were they okay?

He opened his eyes and looked at the three who were currently in the room with him, they all looked fine but he wanted to make sure. "How're you guys, were you hurt at all?" he asked.

"We're fine," Tosh replied for them. "A few cuts and bruises, nothing we can't handle. Teal'c was shot in the leg a couple of times but he's recovering quickly as I'm told is normal for him and Jack just missed being shot in the shoulder so he has a nasty graze, but other than that everyone's good," she assured him.

Ianto nodded, glad to hear everyone was okay. "Do we know who invaded our holiday?" he asked.

"Jack's finding out now, a few of our "friends" survived," Tosh replied. "So far we know they're from UNIT but that's it. Mind you I don't think it'll take long for Jack to find out more."

"And I'm going to guess he's enjoying that more than he should be," Paul said with a grin causing the others to chuckle quietly including Ianto despite the burning anger he could feel building inside him. It was one thing for UNIT to go after him, he could brush that aside and forget it. It was another thing entirely for them to go after his friends. There was no way he'd be letting this go without a fight.

"So when am I going to be up and about, Janet?" he asked the doctor keeping his tone calm so she wouldn't know how angry he was.

"I'd like to keep you in another day for observation, after that you should be fine to go home," Janet replied with a smile.

Ianto managed a sincere smile in return. "Thank you, Janet."

"You're welcome," she replied. "I'm going to check on Daniel and Teal'c, I'll see you a little later."

"Okay, thanks," Ianto replied and Janet slipped out of the curtained area. As soon as Ianto heard her footsteps fade he turned to Tosh his anger no longer contained. "UNIT did this?" he snarled.

He saw her face take on the same expression he imagined was on his and she nodded. "We don't know why yet but it was definitely them."

Ianto looked away doing his best to leash the anger currently pulsing through him. "Something has to be done about them," he snarled quietly. "They get away with far too much."

"I know," Tosh replied simply. "Don't worry; I already have something planned for our friends at UNIT."

The deviousness in her tone surprised Ianto and he looked up to find an expression on her face that was downright scary.

"What exactly do you have in mind?" Paul asked her sounding as worried as Ianto felt.

Tosh gave the Major a frightening smile. "Revenge," she replied, "my way. Are you in?" she asked.

"Right now I think I'm too afraid to not be," Paul replied.

"To not be what?" The group looked up as Sam entered the room her face a mask of curiosity.

Tosh turned that frightening smile on the blonde who stopped mid step and studied the Torchwood computer genius cautiously.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like what you're talking about?" she asked Tosh whose smile simply widened.

XX

Captain Jack Harkness parked the SUV in the hub's parking area and headed inside, the others trailing along behind him. It had been an exceptionally long day and he wanted nothing more than to climb into bed and pretend to sleep. He opened the door expecting to be greeted by a hungry Myfanwy and an empty hub; he was shocked beyond all belief when instead he was greeted by a small group of people; Tosh and Ianto among them.

"Um...what the hell is going on here?" he asked making his way over to the work station where Ianto was currently typing away furiously. Tosh was sitting in another beside him typing just as furiously while a blonde lady stood on the other side of her doing the same. A young man with dark hair and blue eyes stood back a little from the action holding what looked like a data disk in his hand.

Ianto looked over as he approached and Jack saw the assessing way the other man appraised him before he turned back to the computer he'd been typing on previously. "Hi, Jack, sorry to drop in on you like this but we won't be long. Don't worry, we're not hurting anything Torchwood related; we just needed to borrow Tosh's hacking program for a minute or two," he explained. "Oh, this is Sam and Paul, they're from the SGC and as far as they're concerned they were never here."

The blonde woman and the young man with the dark hair looked up at him and waved before turning their attention back to the station the young woman was working at.

"You should pull up a chair, Jack," Tosh spoke this time, "You're going to love this," she finished with a glint in her eye that was downright scary, her attention never leaving the computer she was furiously typing at.

Ianto seemed to finish the task he'd been set because he left the terminal to Paul who took over and began typing at a much more sedate pace but just as intently.

"Want a coffee while I'm here?" Ianto asked heading down to where the coffee machine was located.

Jack followed behind him completely confused by the whole situation and dying to know what was going on. He should have been angry at the invasion of his base but he trusted Ianto and Tosh and he knew neither of them would let anyone in the hub who couldn't be trusted. He was also very interested to find out exactly why Tosh was with Ianto since as far as Jack knew she was on holidays not to mention how much he just wanted to be near Ianto and having the delectable Welshman make him one of his orgasmic cups of coffee was just the cherry on top.

"I'm assuming your coffee preferences haven't changed?" Ianto asked as he set to work on brewing some of his coffee magic.

"No, they're the same as always," Jack replied and if he and Ianto hadn't been on such unfriendly terms Jack would have made a suggestive comment.

Ianto just nodded and began pulling mugs out.

"Okay, as much as I trust you and Tosh not to bring dangerous people into the hub I have to ask, what in the world is going on and why are they here? Why is Tosh with you I thought she was on holidays," Jack asked.

"Tosh was on holidays and she still is officially although they were rudely interrupted. As to why she's with me it goes a little like this. General O'Neill, my current boss, has a cabin in the woods next to a lovely big lake and he likes to go there whenever he has a spare second. It's been an exceptionally long time since anyone at the SGC has had a holiday so when General O'Neill walked out of his office and told us he was heading up to his cabin for a fortnight and asked us if we'd like to come along we all jumped at the chance to have a well-deserved holiday. I mentioned the holiday to Tosh and when she told me it sounded great and she wished she could come along with me I asked General O'Neill if he'd mind her joining us and he said no." Ianto paused then to play with a few dials on the coffee machine before continuing.

"So Tosh got the time off and headed over to join us on our holiday. Everything was going swell and we were all having a ball until a few nights into our little get away we woke up to find a group of UNIT operatives in the General's cabin. Needless to say we won the fight that followed but it wasn't an easy victory and once we'd been treated by the doctors this little group and myself made our way here to use Tosh's hacking program for a little mission we've decided to undertake," Ianto finished.

"And what might that mission be?" Jack asked curious.

"Revenge," Ianto replied matter-of-factly before handing Jack a cup of liquid gold. "Owen, Gwen, Martha do you want a coffee? If so come over here and get it my arm isn't quite up to carrying a tray at the moment," he called out.

The group made their way over to the coffee station. "You can't carry a tray, tea boy? What happened, did you break a nail?" Owen snarked as he stopped in front of Ianto.

"Wow, you are an asshole," Paul said before Ianto could answer making his way over from the station he'd been working at to join them. He stood beside Owen and studied the man for a moment before asking. "Tell me, do you make fun of Ianto because he's better looking than you or...?" he left the question open.

Jack heard Tosh, Sam and Martha giggling behind their hands while Gwen just looked mortified and Owen glared at the young man.

"You do know you're a guest in this hub?" Gwen asked angrily.

"And since Ianto no longer works here so is he. Is this how you treat all of your guests?" Paul asked in return.

Gwen opened her mouth to reply before closing it again obviously realizing she didn't have anything to say back to that.

"For your information Ianto's nursing two bullet wounds in one arm and one in the other as well as a fourth in his shoulder all sustained in the act of protecting Toshiko from harm at the hands of UNIT, now tell me, Dr Harper is it? Is it really such a hardship to pick up your own coffee cup? Or is it the status of your nails we should be enquiring about?" Paul asked his lovely blue eyes narrowed on the Doctor.

"You were shot that many times?" Martha asked Ianto before Owen could reply.

"Oh yes," Ianto replied handing her a cup of coffee. "And do you know what? It doesn't matter how many times it happens it doesn't hurt any less," he said with a smile.

"You should be sitting down," Martha replied concerned.

"Oh no, I'm fine, I'm quite used to this by now and Doctor Fraser dosed me up pretty good before I woke up after the surgery. However, I'm certainly not going to object to another shot of pain killer if you're offering," he told the young doctor.

She moved to comply but Owen stopped her and headed down himself to retrieve it. Ianto handed Sam and Tosh's drinks to Paul who took them over to the girls before returning to the coffee station. Jack watched as Ianto handed Paul his coffee before leaning in close to the other man.

"I appreciate you standing up for me but you really don't need to, it doesn't bother me," he said softly. "Owen is Owen, he has a prickly nature at the best of times and I think my leaving so suddenly has only compounded things. He doesn't know that happened, he doesn't understand and I haven't spoken to him since to explain why I left. I never thought it possible but I think he might be upset about the whole thing. I could be wrong but... just don't judge him too harshly, okay."

"If you say so," Paul replied just as quietly. "Although if I were him I'd be thankful it was me defending you and not Teal'c."

"Or the General," Ianto agreed causing Paul to chuckle slightly. "Just give me a minute, I want to talk to Owen alone," he said.

"All right, Tosh told me to tell you it'll be about 20 minutes before we're ready to begin the final stage," Paul informed him. Ianto nodded and Paul headed back over to the girls his coffee in hand.

Ianto picked up his and Owen's coffee. "Excuse me," he said quietly to Jack and the others before heading down to the medical bay where Owen was preparing a tray with medical implements.

Jack followed him stopping just behind the concrete wall at the edge of the bay so he could watch the exchange between his current and former staff member without being seen. He'd known the rest of his staff would be concerned by Ianto's sudden disappearance, but he'd never stopped to consider just how much it might affect Owen and Tosh. He'd known that Ianto and Tosh were friends but he'd never taken the time to notice just how close they really were and as far as he knew Owen and Ianto barely tolerated each other. He'd never considered that Owen might be hurt by Ianto's absence and he berated himself mentally for not thinking of that.

Owen looked up as Ianto approached, "Oh good, you're down here, saves me calling you. On the bed, shirt off," the doctor directed moving the trolley with the medical implements on it over to the bedside.

"I'm fine, Owen, Janet did a very good job of stitching me up," Ianto told him placing Owen's coffee cup on an available spot of bench near the stairs.

"Then you won't mind me taking a look for myself will you," Owen challenged motioning to the bed.

Ianto studied the doctor for a moment before obviously coming to the conclusion that he wouldn't win this argument and moving to comply. Jack knew he should walk away but his feet were glued to the floor and try as he might he couldn't keep his eyes from watching as Ianto stripped off his jacket and shirt or appraising the gorgeous body that lay beneath. Ianto's figure hadn't changed much since his departure; he was still as sublime as ever, although the sight of several white bandages covering part of his left arm, part of his right arm and his right shoulder caused Jack to wince in sympathy. What happened to Ianto being safer at the SGC?

Jack watched as Owen carefully stripped the bandages off Ianto's wounds and studied them closely, appraising the other doctor's skills. He moved Ianto's arms around a bit and studied the wounds some more before obviously deciding he was happy with what he was seeing and heading over to one of his drawers to retrieve more bandages. He made his way back to Ianto and as he started re-wrapping Ianto's injuries the young Welshman spoke.

"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I know I left suddenly, I know I didn't say goodbye, I wish it hadn't happened that way."

"Why did it?" Owen asked his eyes never leaving the area he was bandaging.

"I...it's complicated," Ianto replied softly looking down.

Owen finished bandaging Ianto's left arm and secured the bandage before leaning up and looking the Welshman in the eyes. "What did he do?" he asked simply.

"Armond," Ianto replied just as simply.

"Yeah, I thought as much," Owen replied turning his attention to Ianto's other arm. "You could have called you know, I honestly thought Jack was lying and you were dead," he said softly.

"I honestly didn't think you'd care," Ianto replied.

Owen paused in his bandaging and looked up at the Welshman once more. "Of course I care," the doctor said softly. "We might not have always gotten along, Ianto, but we were a team, we were...we were family. At least I thought we were"

"Well forgive me, but you didn't exactly act like you felt that way," Ianto replied quietly.

"Maybe not, but I thought you knew anyway. You know I'm not the touchy, feely sort, I don't do relationships particularly well, even the non-romantic sort," Owen argued softly.

"I know you don't do touchy, feely, Owen, believe me I was just fine with that, and I know relationships of any sort aren't your thing, but would it have been so much to ask for at least common courtesy?" Ianto asked quietly. "You were awful to me, Owen, all the time, was that really necessary?"

"I knew he would hurt you one day," Owen's outburst surprised Jack even though it was spoken quietly. "I knew he would and it made me so angry that you wouldn't listen to me when I warned you. You knew what he was like, I knew you did, you knew I was right. Even when you were arguing with me and trying to tell me that I wasn't I knew you didn't really believe it, I could see it in your eyes. But it didn't matter, you wouldn't listen to me, you wouldn't leave him, and I didn't want to be angry at you because of it I just couldn't help it. I..." Owen trailed off taking several deep breaths to calm down before he spoke again.

"I know you loved him and I know you wanted it to be different between you two, but you have no idea how happy I am that you finally had the guts to walk away. We are family, for better or worse, and you deserve so much more than that, you deserved more than any of this and I knew you could be more than you were I just wanted you to see it too. I'm sorry I couldn't find a better way to get that across to you, I'm sorry I hurt your feelings, but you were the only one of us that had any hope of anything outside of Torchwood, I had to make you see that, even if it meant being an ass," Owen finished.

Owen turned his attention back to Ianto's bandages then obviously uncomfortable with where the conversation had headed. The medical bay was silent as Owen fastened off the bandage, as soon as he was done however Ianto reached out and pulled the doctor into a hug. Owen held himself rigidly in Ianto's arms for a moment before Jack saw him accept the embrace and hold Ianto back. It lasted longer than Jack would have expected it to and when the pair parted Ianto smiled at the snarky doctor.

"How are you anyway?" he asked.

"Fine, how are you? How's the new job?" Owen asked in return.

"It's good, I'm good…I'm actually really happy," Ianto replied his smile widening.

Owen smiled back, "Good, I'm glad to hear it."

The pair shared a smile for another few moments before Tosh's voice drew their attention up stairs.

"It's ready!" she called sounding just a little too excited for Jack's liking.

Jack moved over to where his computer genius was sitting and waited to see what was going to happen next.

"Everyone to the conference room!" she called standing up from where she'd been working and leading the way further into the hub, Sam, Paul and most of the Torchwood staff close behind. Jack waited for a few moments until he saw Owen and Ianto ascending the stairs from the medical bay before following the group curious to see what exactly Tosh was going to do.

The massive screen at the end of the conference room was already active when Jack entered the room and as soon as everyone was seated Tosh brought up what appeared to be a computer screen with the UNIT symbol in the centre. Jack frowned in confusion and turned to Tosh who smiled evilly as she pressed a few buttons on her palm pilot. "Ready and go!" she announced pressing one final button and turning her attention to the screen.

The screen turned dark purple and a grinning weevil appeared in the middle of it. The weevil let out an evil laugh and turned to face the files currently sitting on the computer screen. With another gleeful and all together evil laugh he walked over to the closest file, grabbed it in his large hands and threw it in his mouth. A loud crunching sound followed as the weevil chewed up the file before a loud swallow was accompanied by a backwards tilt of his head and a large lump made its way down his throat before ending in his stomach with a bump, much like it often did when someone ate something in one of those children's cartoons.

The weevil seemed to think about something for a moment before a gleeful expression crossed his face and he turned to the other side of the screen and started making a 'come on' motion with his hands. Jack watched puzzled as the screen was suddenly overrun by weevils who began diving on every file they could find and gobbling them up.

It took a moment for Jack to figure out what was happening and when at last it came to him he couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. Tosh had made a computer virus to destroy all of UNIT's files but rather than making it just happen all at once she was making it happen a bit at a time and using the weevils as a way to mock the UNIT staff who were no doubt watching what was taking place and trying frantically to stop it. Of course they wouldn't be able to; no one stopped Tosh once she put her brilliant mind to something.

The weevils finished what was on the screen in front of them and started looking around for more files to feed on. As one they turned to the background and started chewing through it until they reached what looked like a circuit board and started consuming that as well. Jack would have given anything to see what was happening at the UNIT base right now.

"Hey, Tosh, is there any way you could hack into UNIT's surveillance system so we can see what's happening at their base at the moment?" Owen asked, as if he'd read the captain's mind.

"As a matter of fact there is," Tosh replied hitting a couple of buttons on her palm pilot.

The screen shrank and another one appeared beside it showing the UNIT base and everyone running around like crazy people, tripping over each other as the lights flashed on and off and alarms blared around them. Tosh grinned at the sight before hitting another few buttons on her palm pilot. The alarms shut off to be replace only seconds later by the most annoying song in the world. The Damned crazy frog!

The whole sight was so damn amusing that very soon the entire group were laughing hysterically. The laughter increased all the more when the weevils found a link up to UNIT in America and half of them headed there while the others remained to finish the UK branch. Soon the weevils had found their way to every UNIT base there was and were systematically destroying every computer system, every file, every piece of technology UNIT had ever built or acquired. With each new base the system opened a screen to show the technology being eaten and another to show how the staff was responding. The entire conference room screen was soon alive with movement and the group were laughing so hard they didn't notice Lois enter the room, having started her shift that morning, with General O'Neill following after her.

"So this is what you lot have been up to!" he announced loudly enough to draw the group's attention to him.

"General!" the group from the SGC including Ianto stated in shocked surprise before moving to stand up as was military protocol.

"At ease," the General ordered before they got far and moved to stand at the back of the table to get a better view of what was happening. "Is this UNIT?" he asked.

"Yes, Sir," Davis replied in a slightly sheepish tone looking for all the world like a kid who'd just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

General O'Neill just smirked. "Ha, serves the cocky bastards right," he said before turning to look at Tosh. "Is this your doing, Toshiko?" he asked.

"It's part mine, part Sam's with a little Paul and Ianto thrown in for fun," Tosh replied grinning up at the General.

O'Neill chuckled, "Nice, very nice," he praised before turning his attention to Ianto. "I'm sorry to interrupt your fun, you're more than deserving of it after what's gone on" –somehow the look on the General's face told Captain Jack that he wasn't just talking about Ianto's current injuries- "but the Napoleonic power monger wants you back in the infirmary…now." he stressed the last word just a little and Captain Jack saw Ianto sigh his face taking on a look that Jack had never seen before.

"Do I have to?" he asked in a tone that would have done a sulky teenager proud.

"I'd like to say no, but unfortunately, yes," the General replied the look on his face showing just how much he sympathised with Ianto's current predicament.

"But she's scary," Ianto barely whispered and O'Neill suddenly laughed.

"Just how much pain relief have you had, Ianto?" he asked sounding truly amused.

Ianto seemed to think about it for a moment before replying, "A bit," with a nod of his head.

The General narrowed his eyes for a moment before turning to the rest of the group and asking. "Okay, who gave him what?" he asked.

Owen piped up and replied, "I gave him some morphine, why?"

The General suddenly looked like he was fighting not to laugh and he turned to look at the rest of the SGC personnel. "Doc Fraser…gave him some of that concoction she made for Teal'c," he said.

Sam's eyes went wide and she looked from Ianto to the General; alarm showing clearly in her eyes.

"You mean the one that made him giggle all day after one of the nurses accidentally gave him morphine?" Paul asked.

The General nodded slowly his eyes showing just how much he was fighting not to laugh.

Sam turned her attention back to Ianto, amusement showing clearly in her eyes. "Feel like giggling yet?" she asked.

"What do you mean yet? I've been laughing at UNIT for quite a while now," Ianto replied before a quiet giggle emerged from his throat. "You mean to tell me I'm going to spend a whole day giggling?" he asked the blonde.

Sam nodded slowly.

"You know what? I think I could use a day like that," he replied before covering his mouth as another giggle started to break through.

"Okay, I think we should get you back to the base," O'Neill declared moving over to Ianto's seat and pulling him up to his feet with Paul's help. Paul threw one of Ianto's arms over his shoulder while Sam grabbed Ianto's other arm and they helped him move toward the door.

The General turned his attention to Tosh then. "Coming with us?" he asked. "We have a holiday to finish."

Tosh smiled and jumped up from her chair to follow the others. "See you all when I get back," she called heading for the door.

"Bye, Owen," Ianto called on his way out of the room using his hand that was over Paul's shoulder to wave to the doctor. "I'll talk to you soon, take care."

Owen grinned, "Bye Ianto, enjoy your medication," he called back and Captain Jack was surprised to see an almost serene smile on the Doctor's face.

"Head back up top I'll see you up there in a second," the General called and the group headed out of the room. As soon as the rest of his personal were out of sight the General turned his attention to Jack.

"Might I have a word, Captain?" he asked pleasantly enough although Jack could tell it wasn't at all a question and the man was not at all happy.

Jack stood and led the man out into the corridor before hitting the buttons on his wrist strap to close the conference room door so the rest of the Torchwood staff couldn't hear them. He then turned back to face the General not at all surprised to see a dark look in his eyes.

"I interrogated the UNIT soldiers who survived the attack on my holiday home, took a while but I eventually found out what they were doing there." Here the man paused and Jack had a pretty good idea he was trying to settle the anger that was obviously building in him before he continued. "You know you have quite a reputation, Captain," O'Neill snarled. "Apparently you will play with anyone regardless of who they are, what they are or how badly you might ruin them when you eventually turn tail and run away like the coward I think you are. None of this has ever interested me before and I'd like it to never have to again, is there anything you're not following so far?" he asked Jack who shook his head. He had no idea where this was going but he knew saying so would only anger the man and he wanted to know what the General was going to say about UNIT.

"Like I said none of your reputation interested me, until a man from UNIT turned up at my base one day, Major Smith, I believe you two are acquainted." –Jack felt cold dread fill his stomach at the sound of that name- "He strode in with a group of his UNIT associates and started going on and on about how Ianto couldn't be trusted, how he was a spy for Torchwood and how he'd never betray you. No I'm not done!" O'Neill snapped when Jack opened his mouth to protest Ianto's innocence. "I know Ianto's not a spy, but I did not appreciate having someone I'd never met stroll into my base and start question the loyalty of one of my team, especially my AA. I asked Ianto about the incident and he told me about his run in with Major Smith over that alien and how the man most likely wanted revenge, and that may have been part of it, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess you used that man and screwed him over just like you do everyone else, am I right?"

Jack didn't say anything; he wasn't sure what he would say if he could. He was so angry and upset right now that the words just would come to him. That damn Major Smith, he was going to make the man pay for this!

The General continued anyway. "I gave UNIT a serve and threatened to make their lives very hard if they ever allowed a stunt like that to be pulled again and if it had ended there then fine, but it didn't. Your Major Smith found out about the holiday plans I made with my team, he had men stalk us and when we reached the holiday house and they found out Tosh was with us as well as Ianto he ordered men to invade my house and capture Ianto and Tosh with whatever force was necessary, even if that meant killing the rest of us. They were to be held and interrogated at a UNIT base for information about Torchwood and its leader. Now the men may have said it was a UNIT operation to gain intelligence, but if that was the case they would have come after all of us because UNIT wants information about the SGC just as much as it wants information about Torchwood which is how I know this wasn't reconnaissance, it was personal, and in all likelihood it was Major Smith trying to get back at you." Here O'Neill paused and took a deep breath likely giving Captain Jack time to absorb what he'd said. After another few moments he continued.

"Now I don't know what you did to Major Smith and I really don't care, but I will tell you right now, if I ever find a member of my team in another situation that has come about because you couldn't keep it in your pants…well…I know you apparently can't die, but I have a lovely weapon that can vaporise you and I'd really like to see you come back from that! Are we clear, Captain?" General O'Neill snapped

Jack nodded, mentally fuming over Major Smith coming after Ianto and Tosh. Oh yes, that man was definitely going to pay for this, more than Tosh had made UNIT pay already.

General O'Neill turned to leave but suddenly stopped and turned back to look at Captain Jack. "I don't know what happened between you and Ianto, he's told me something but I know it's not all of it. Either way it doesn't matter; just understand that that kid is never coming back here. He is a member of my team now and I will make sure you never have the chance to ruin him the way you've done so many before, no matter what it takes. Is that understood?"

The look in the General's eyes told Jack he meant every word and he managed to clear his head enough to finally say something back. "Keep him safe, that's all I want for him," he told the other man allowing his sincerity and feeling to show though his eyes.

For a moment the General just watched him, then his expression changed as if he'd suddenly realised something and he gave Jack the barest of nods before turning and walking away without a backwards glance.

Jack hit the buttons on his wrist strap to open the conference room doors before heading back in and addressing his team. "I want all of you to go to your stations and get me every shred of information you can find about Major Smith," he ordered.

"The UNIT guy?" Owen asked.

"Yes," Jack replied his expression obviously fierce enough to keep Owen from questioning further as he and the group all stood from the table without a word and headed back into the hub to do as they were told.

As soon as they were out of the room Jack shut the door and used his wrist strap to remove UNIT from the screen and switch to the CCTV camera outside on the Plass. He watched as General O'Neill reached the surface and joined the group who currently appeared to be laughing along with a giggling Ianto. He zoomed the camera in as much as he could on the young Welshman and sat back to watch him interact with the group. Despite Ianto being drugged Jack could see that he belonged with these people, that he was relaxed and comfortable around them, more so than he'd ever been at Torchwood.

A sad smile crossed his face and he felt tears building in his eyes. Ianto was going to be okay, they'd make sure of it, General O'Neill would make sure of it, and Jack had no doubt the man could. He followed the group until they found a spot away from prying eyes and disappeared in a flash of white light.

"Goodbye, Ianto," Jack whispered to himself knowing it would most likely be the last time he ever said those words.

XX

End of chapter

So what did we think? A bit angsty I know but meh, I like the angst sometimes. Please review :)


	8. The Holiday Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a note to avoid confusion. When the story is told from Jack O'Neill point of view he'll be Jack or O'Neill. If told from Captain Jack's point of view he'll be Jack. Confusing I know but every second show seems to have Jack as a main character, or John. Honestly, show writers really are an uncreative lot when they want to be.

Ianto did indeed spend the rest of the day giggling which wasn't actually too bad since it gave the rest of SG1, Tosh, Janet, and Paul something to laugh about too, all except for Daniel who unfortunately didn't wake up until that night when the giggling had worn off. Ianto and the others headed in to see him the moment they heard he was awake, including Teal'c who'd been released from Janet's care thanks to his quick healing rate. Daniel smiled as they walked in clearly happy to see they were all okay. Janet didn't allow the group to stay too long however since Daniel still needed to rest and she sent all but Ianto and Daniel to their quarters. Ianto offered Tosh his room and she accepted with a grateful smile before bidding him goodnight and heading out with the rest of the group.

Ianto was sent to his own bed which was only a curtain away from Daniel's, something he was grateful for, and ordered to sleep with the warning that if he didn't she wouldn't let him go the next morning. Ianto slipped into bed and crawled under the blankets without argument. He even feigned sleep for a while until he heard the infirmary start to empty for the night and the lights went out to indicate that only skeleton staff remained. He knew someone would be by around midnight to check on him and Daniel but he wanted to talk to the man and it was only 9 now giving him a few hours at least.

He was just pushing the blankets aside as silently as he could when he heard Daniel's voice whisper to him through the curtain. "Hey, Ianto, are you awake?" he asked.

Ianto smiled to himself before replying, "Yeah, hang on a second." And slipping out of bed. He snuck through the curtain and smiled at the archaeologist who returned it with one of his own as Ianto moved to the bed side. "Hey, how are you feeling?" he asked perching himself carefully on the edge of the bed.

"I'm okay, how are you?" Daniel asked in return his eyes wandering over Ianto's arms that were still bandaged thickly the one with the damaged shoulder now resting in a sling.

"I'm fine, better now that I've had a chance to get back at UNIT for their attack on us," Ianto replied with a grin.

"Jack mentioned that before, what exactly did you do anyway?" the archaeologist asked.

Ianto retold the story in as much detail as possible and Daniel was holding his stomach and fighting not to laugh by the time it was over.

"Okay, don't tell me anymore it hurts to laugh," he said his face a mixture of pain and amusement.

"Sorry," Ianto said feeling guilty for causing the other man more pain. "Do you want me to get someone?"

Daniel shook his head. "No it's fine, it's feeling better already," the archaeologist reassured him.

"Are you sure?" Ianto asked concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine, promise," Daniel replied giving Ianto a smile.

Ianto nodded, "Okay," he agreed quietly looking down at his hands. Seeing Daniel in pain reminded him of what had happened back at Jack's house and how close he'd come to possibly losing the other man. He'd been so scared for Daniel that he couldn't put it into words and even though he really didn't want to think any more about that horrible night he had to tell him. "I'm really glad you're all right, I was worried about you," he confessed his gaze still glued to his hands as he felt tears starting to build in his eyes.

For a few moments the room was silent, then Daniel's hand appeared in his line of sight coming to rest on his own and squeezing it gently. "Hey, look at me," the archaeologist asked softly.

Ianto shook his head, closing his eyes in an attempt to push the tears back. "Just give me a minute," he asked softly.

Ianto almost jumped when Daniel's hand gently touched his cheek. "Ianto look at me, please," Daniel repeated his previous request with slightly more urgency and as much as he didn't want to Ianto did as he was asked. His gaze met lovely, ocean blue eyes that were looking back at him with so much tenderness it made his breath catch. He was frozen speechless as Daniel's fingers gently wiped the tears from his face before coming to rest softly on his cheek.

"I'm really glad you're okay too," Daniel whispered the tenderness in his eyes evolving into something Ianto couldn't name. For the longest time they just stared at each other, Ianto's wide, tear bright, sky blue gazing into Daniel's deep, caring cerulean. Ianto couldn't exactly be sure what he felt at that moment, nor could he name the number of emotions he could see swimming in Daniel's orbs; all he knew was that whatever was happening between them it felt right. The only problem was he wasn't sure he was ready to experience this right now and he had to let Daniel know.

"Daniel I-"

"No, we don't have to talk about this now," the archaeologist interrupted him softly with a gentle squeeze of his hand. "Just…be here with me now, please," he asked softly.

Ianto nodded in acquiescence and crawled up to the head of the bed after Daniel had carefully turned onto his side to give Ianto some room. He lay down beside the archaeologist and reached out to take his hand. For the next little while the pair lay in silence, their gazes locked and their hands joined tightly between them. Unfortunately the drugs Janet had given them were quite strong and before Ianto knew it he felt himself dropping off to sleep.

As his eyes slid closed he felt one of Daniel's hands release his and slip over his shoulders resting on his back and holding him close to the archaeologist. He felt Daniel's forehead touch his and he smiled softly as sleep took him down to its dark, quiet depths.

In the early hours of the morning he was aware of someone moving him from Daniel's side and returning him to his own bed but he was too tired to rouse himself enough to see who it was. Somewhere in the back of his mind Ianto was grateful to whoever it was as it saved him and Daniel getting into trouble with the air force and their DADT rule, although he'd have to look into how that applied to Daniel and himself since they were civilians.

That was all the conscious thought his tired mind processed before he was asleep once more.

XX

Janet released Ianto and Daniel on Saturday stating that she normally wouldn't but since she would be returning to holidaying with them she'd be able to keep an eye on the pair and as such she'd slacken the rules just this once.

Jack's house still needed to be repaired so the group had organized a large house for them all to stay in on a lake, in the woods in Canada. This one had all the fishing options for Jack while being close enough to other points of interest for the rest of the group as well. They spent the Saturday afternoon settling in and sorting out their rooms most of which were inhabited quite differently from when they were staying in Jack's cabin.

Jack and Sam took one of the rooms with a queen bed as they had done with Jack's bedroom back at his cabin. Janet and Paul took a room with 2 singles, Daniel and Ianto took the room with the two doubles (giving them the option of sleeping separately or together for the rest of the holiday), while Tosh and Teal'c took the last room with the queen bed together, which surprised Ianto greatly until Tosh, blushing just a little, told him that the Jaffar had invited her to join him in his room while Daniel and Ianto had been in the hospital for the night.

Mentally vowing to interrogate the Torchwood computer genius about that later Ianto had just given her a knowing smile and a nod before heading to his own room to get everything put away.

They relaxed by the lake for the rest of the evening before the group eventually started heading inside to bed. Jack and Sam headed in first followed soon after by Teal'c and Tosh, the Asian woman shooting Ianto a wink as she went. Janet ordered Daniel and Ianto to bed shortly after that and they headed inside with Janet and Paul on their tail. Ianto showered first and headed out to settle on one of the beds allowing Daniel to choose whether he wanted to join Ianto or not. He honestly didn't mind if the archaeologist chose to join him, he was too tired to do more than drop off to sleep anyway and sleeping next to each other, while a little intimate, wasn't really pushing the bounds of their friendship that far, not in Ianto's opinion anyway.

Ianto was almost asleep by the time Daniel emerged from the bathroom and he smiled when he felt the archaeologist slip into the bed beside him. "Do you mind?" Daniel's quiet voice asked.

"No," Ianto replied just as quietly.

Daniel settled down behind him and after a few seconds of silence he asked, "Can I hold you?"

Ianto turned over and studied the other man suddenly feeling more awake. He knew he had feelings for Daniel but he wasn't entirely sure what Daniel's feelings were for him in return and as much as he thought he knew he didn't want to get his hopes up just to find out he was wrong. He'd been hurt far too many times already not to mention he wasn't quite ready to start anything serious yet and Daniel meant too much to him to just be a fling.

"As much as I would like to just say yes and fall asleep I think we need to talk about this," Ianto said hoping the other man didn't try to avoid the subject.

Daniel took a deep breath and moved back a bit so there was some room between them and they could see each other easier. "Okay," he agreed. "Do you want to go first or should I?" he asked.

"Honestly I'd rather you did," Ianto replied figuring Daniel would understand his reasoning.

"Okay," the archaeologist agreed and moved around a little, probably to get himself more comfortable, before speaking. "When I first met you I was struck by how similar we were in some ways and how very different in others. It was an unusual meeting we first had, but I quickly realised how much those similarities and differences made for a near perfect friendship between us. I clicked very quickly with you, that's not a usual thing for me, I mean I try and get along with most of the people I meet but I don't usually bond with them quite so quickly. I guess that should have tipped me off but, well, apparently it didn't. I knew I really liked you and I always wanted you near me but…" he trailed off then and shook his head.

"Anyway, I didn't give it any more thought until the holiday started and Tosh asked me what was going on between us," –Ianto was very grateful he didn't have a mouth full of anything when Daniel said that, he was pretty sure the archaeologist would have worn it.- "I told her we were friends and that was it but then she asked if I thought there was going to be anything else going on between us in the future and…I couldn't answer her. I mean Jack walked out then and sent us to bed but…if he hadn't…" Daniel trailed off once more and sighed.

'I thought a lot over the next few days. I thought about you and what I felt toward you, about us and all the time we'd spent together, I watched my own interactions with you and thought about my behaviour toward you and I…I honestly didn't know what I was feeling or thinking. I mean I know you're a good looking man and that I have no issues whatsoever being in your personal space but I didn't know if that meant anything." At this Daniel paused and looked down at the bed. When he spoke again his voice was so quiet Ianto had to lean closer to hear him.

"Then those UNIT soldiers came to the house and all I could think about was you. Were you safe, were you hurt, were they after you, had one of them knocked you out and dragged you away somewhere, would we be able to find you if they had. When you crawled over to me and I saw that you were alive and still here I wanted to cry in relief, then I saw that you were hurt and I got so scared that you were going to die." Daniel shook his head again. "I've been friends with Jack, Sam, Teal'c and the others for years, we've always been there for each other, always relied on each other, they're like family to me, but you were all I could think about. That's when I realized that what I feel for you isn't just friendship. What it is exactly…I think it's going to be love, eventually, right now it's…somewhere in between. I think I need to get my head around the idea of being in love with another man but once I do…" he stopped and looked up at Ianto again.

"I'm sorry I can't be more specific, I wish I could, I just can't yet. All I know for certain is that I want to be as close to you as I can; that being with you and holding you feels right to me. I'm sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear and I understand if you'd rather me keep some distance until I figure it out a little better for myself…that is…assuming you have any interest in me at all I mean I haven't asked you that yet…but I guess you'll answer that shortly so I'll stop babbling now and let you talk," Daniel finished with a nervous smile and looked down again.

Ianto studied the other man for a minute. He didn't love him yet, but he thought he was going to and as much as the thought scared Ianto a bit after what had happened with Jack he reminded himself that Daniel wasn't the same and since Ianto himself wasn't quite ready to start a new relationship yet allowing Daniel time to sort through his own feelings, and most likely confusion, would actually not be much of a hardship for him. In fact Daniel's need for time was rather perfect really.

When he didn't speak for a while Daniel's gaze moved to him once more and Ianto could see the worry in the archaeologist's lovely blue eyes.

Ianto gave the man a reassuring smile, "Sorry, I was just thinking," he explained and not wanting the archaeologist to worry further he got on with explaining his own feelings about their relationship. "I can honestly understand how you feel, probably better than most of the people you know. My first relationship with a man was with Captain Harkness" –somehow saying that was easier than calling the man Jack, particularly since they both knew another Jack- "and believe me I'd never felt so confused. I felt things when I was with him that just didn't seem right to me, a previously very straight man and yet they were always there, whenever I saw him, whenever I was with him. That relationship was the most shocking, eye-opening experience of my life, believe me, I really do understand how confusing this must all be for you so don't be sorry for needing time to deal with it."

He reached forward and took one of Daniel's hands gently in his. "As for how I feel about you; Daniel, I started falling for you the moment I handed you that first cup of coffee in your alien, pedestal fan destroyed office," Ianto admitted with a small smile. "I ignored it as much as I could, pushed it to the back of my mind, did everything I could to forget about it because you were straight and fast becoming the closest friend I'd ever had. I didn't want to tell you and frighten you away and I never thought you'd reciprocate so I kept it to myself so happy just to have your friendship which I valued above all other things and, as you said before, just to be close to you however I could. It's not love for me yet either, but the fact that I've been trying to ignore my feelings and squash them down has a lot to do with that."

Here Ianto paused and looked down at his and Daniel's joined hands wanting what little distance he could get between himself and Daniel when he told the archaeologist the rest of the reason. "The rest of it, and the other reason I don't mind that you need time to deal with what you feel is that while I've let Jack go and accepted that he's no longer part of my life anymore I'm not quite over what happened between us yet and I don't want to start a new relationship until I am. Jack and I, what happened between us, it started so soon after Lisa's death and was just supposed to be a fling, something to distract us both from the pain of our lives, I was never supposed to fall in love with him. But I did…I knew it was pointless and stupid but I did it anyway, because somewhere along the line what we had started to feel less like a fling and more like…I don't know…like something real. If I'd waited just a little while longer, given myself more time to get over Lisa, I would have been better prepared to handle the kind of relationship Jack wanted and come out of it with positive memories and experiences rather than broken."

He looked up at Daniel then finally daring to meet the archaeologist's eyes as he said. "I don't want to make that mistake with you. From what you said before I'm gathering that you're starting to feel more for me than a passing fancy, what I feel for you definitely is, and when you are ready to pursue this I want to be able to give you a whole, complete person, not the damaged and only partially repaired man I am now. I care about you, Daniel, a lot, and I don't want a relationship with you to be a temporary thing, I want it to be a forever thing, if that's what you want too, and I actually feel like it could be if I wait just a little longer. Does that make sense?" he asked hoping Daniel would understand what he was trying to say.

The archaeologist gave him a warm smile, his eyes alight with caring as he brought Ianto's hand, which was still holding his, up to his lips and kissed it. "Yes I do," he replied softly. "When I lost my wife…well…I never thought I'd get over it. The idea of moving on just seemed insane, but eventually I managed it and you will too, believe me; I know all too well how you feel." Daniel sighed, "We really are quite a pair aren't we? But really, all these issues that we have, all the emotional baggage we're carrying around; because of these things we can understand each other better than anyone else could and I think that's why, when we're ready to start this relationship properly, we're going to last. I think you were right before when you said we have a chance at forever."

Ianto smiled, "You have no idea how nice it is to hear you say that," he told the other man squeezing his hand softly.

"Actually I think I do," Daniel replied his smile growing wider.

A few moments of silence passed between them before Daniel spoke again. "So, we've both established that we're feeling the same things, that we both want a long, lasting relationship together and that we both need a little time before entering into it fully. The only question now is what we do in the mean-time. Do we continue on as we were before or…?" Daniel trailed off leaving the question open.

Ianto thought about it, what did he want to do? "I don't know," he replied honestly, "I've never been in this situation with someone before."

"No neither have I," Daniel replied.

They both fell silent, most likely pondering the same things.

"You know what?" Daniel asked breaking the silence.

"What?" Ianto asked.

"I think we should just go with the flow and see what happens, let the relationship evolve on its own and see where we end up," Daniel replied.

"So you mean, like, if one of us wants to do something to the other they ask and the other person can then say yes or no depending on what they want?" Ianto asked seeking clarification.

"Yeah, something like that," Daniel replied, "Although we seem pretty good at reading each other already, we'll probably get to the point where we don't have to ask eventually."

"Probably," Ianto agreed with a grin.

"So right now, I'd like to sleep in here with you and hold you, are you okay with that?" Daniel asked.

Ianto gave the other man a sly grin, "Well in light of your previous comment what do you think I want?" he asked.

Daniel returned Ianto's grin and slipped his free hand over Ianto's waist. He pulled Ianto close enough that their foreheads touched and Ianto felt himself blush slightly a sight that was mirrored on Daniel's pale face.

"Did I guess right?" Daniel asked in a whisper.

"Yes," Ianto whispered back mentally thanking his voice for not shaking. His heart was pounding in his chest and he would have been worried about Daniel feeling it he hadn't been able to feel the archaeologist's own racing heartbeat through their joined hands which were now pressed together between them. "Am I allowed to hold you back?" Ianto asked.

"What do you think?" Daniel returned his earlier question and Ianto slipped his free hand over Daniel's arm bringing it to rest between his shoulder blades and stroking the skin softly through the material of Daniel's shirt.

"Wow," Daniel suddenly breathed.

"What?" Ianto whispered back.

"Nothing I just…how did I never notice how attracted I am to you before now?" Daniel asked obviously not expecting an answer.

"Well, you know Denial isn't just a river in Egypt," Ianto replied anyway causing Daniel to chuckle.

Silence fell between them once more, this time it was Ianto who broke it.

"What do we tell the others?" he asked suddenly worried about how the rest of SG1 and Janet were going to react.

Daniel took a deep breath possibly giving himself time to think about the answer before he said, "The truth I guess. I mean they are our friends we should definitely tell them."

"Maybe that's not such a good idea," Ianto said cautiously, not wanting to upset Daniel.

"Why not?" the archaeologist asked.

"Because we work for the American Air Force," Ianto replied

"Are you worried that Jack and the others are going tell on us?" Daniel asked.

"They are military," Ianto reminded him. "And the military have a DADT rule."

"We're not military," Daniel reminded him.

"Do you think it matters to the highers up?" Ianto asked.

"Maybe not, but it doesn't matter, the others aren't going to report us, even if they weren't our friends I'd be sure of that," Daniel reassured him.

"How?" Ianto asked.

"Because the Air Force might have a DADT policy but they also have a non-fraternisation policy and guess who's breaking that as we speak?" Daniel asked.

It took Ianto a moment to realize what Daniel meant, but when he did he couldn't mask his surprise at himself for not realizing earlier.

"Don't see anyone dobbing on them do you?" Daniel asked.

"Well, Jack is the boss," Ianto pointed out.

"And there are more than a million people out there who would like nothing more than to see him kicked out of the SGC and the air force forever, one word out of any of us and they'd come down on him like a ton of bricks. He and Sam are trusting us not to tell anyone because they know they can, they wouldn't return that trust with a knife in our backs," Daniel reassured him.

"Okay, then what about homosexuality, how do they feel about that?" Ianto asked.

"I've never asked to be honest, but after everything we've seen on our travels I don't think that's going to be too far-fetched an idea for them to wrap their heads around," Daniel replied.

"Even if it's you they're talking about?" Ianto asked. "Jack's your best friend and I've seen these things ruin friendships, Daniel, sometimes the people you've known forever aren't prepared to accept a change like this from a friend they've known for years like they would be if it were a stranger. I know they're all good people we've surrounded ourselves with here but…I just don't want to see you get hurt by this, that's all, I don't want the feelings that are growing between us to ruin friendships you've cultivated for years. It wouldn't be fair to you."

Daniel gave him a soft smile and squeezed Ianto's hand. "It's really nice of you to worry about me, Ianto, but it's going to be fine. They're our friends, they're not going to turn on us because of this and as for Jack, you're right, he is my best friend, which is why I know he isn't going to freak out about this. Just trust me, okay, everything's going to be fine," Daniel whispered reassuringly.

Ianto wanted to believe him and he had known the others a lot longer than Ianto so he'd let the archaeologist decide who he told and when. He just hoped Daniel was right. "Okay," he agreed quietly and settled in next to the other man. "I guess we should go to sleep, more holidaying to do tomorrow," he said with a half-hearted smile and closed his eyes.

"Ianto," Daniel whispered, "It really is going to be okay."

Ianto just nodded not opening his eyes, they'd find out soon enough at any rate.

Xx

Finding where Major Smith lived had turned out to be easier than Captain Jack had anticipated, deactivating the man's security had been a little more challenging but doable. Now Jack was comfortably seated on the man's couch awaiting his homecoming which, going by the surveillance the others had managed to gather thanks to the CCTV system, should be sometime within the next few minutes. Hearing the lock click in the door brought an evil smile to the captain's face and he knew if anyone were to see him right now they would undoubtedly find him quite frightening.

'Good, the man deserves a little fear,' his inner voice whispered, "No one goes after one of my people and gets away with it, for someone to go after 2…'

The front door opened revealing Major Smith looking tired and harried, not at all surprising considering what Tosh had done to UNIT, Jack could only imagine how much effort the UNIT personnel must have been putting into trying to find who did it and recover their data. The man dropped his keys on the bench and headed toward his bedroom not even bothering to look in the direction of his lounge room.

Jack rose from the couch and followed silently behind the Major smiling at the thought of catching the man in his bedroom unaware. Perhaps that would be the most fitting place, after all that was where this whole mess had really started.

General O'Neill had been right when he said that Jack often left a trail of destruction in his path. Because of that Jack hadn't argued with the man when he'd been accusing him of being a coward, in a lot of ways many people could get that impression from his actions. Unless they were in the middle of it, and sometimes not even then, they couldn't understand that he was doing it for their own good. Of course, not getting involved with people at all would be the best option that way he couldn't hurt them, but he was only human and just like everyone else he got lonely sometimes. Still the General had a point; he did tend to leave broken hearted people in his wake, like Ianto, someone else who didn't know he'd done it for their own good.

Jack had thought about writing the Welshman a letter explaining why he'd done what he'd done, but he knew that would only make the whole horrible experience a pointless waste of time and he'd hurt them both doing it, he wasn't about to waste that pain no matter how much he wanted the other man to understand.

'O'Neill understands now,' his mental voice reminded him. He knew the General had seen it in his eyes at the end of their conversation, if you could call it that. He needed the other man to know that, to understand that Jack…that he…that he loved Ianto and he'd done what he had to to keep him safe. If he'd argued back with the other man Jack never would have gotten that point across and he needed O'Neill to understand, he didn't know why he just did.

That didn't matter now, what mattered was that Major Smith hadn't lost Jack like so many had. Despite what he'd told Ianto that day Jack hadn't just gone away and abandoned Major Smith the man had turned out to be a monster and as soon as Jack had realized the truth he'd ended their affair. Obviously the man still carried some sort of vendetta against Jack even though it was now years in the past and it had caused his attention to turn to Jack's team. Going after Tosh had earned him an unpleasant death, going after Ianto…well…nobody played with Ianto and got away with it.

As he reached major Smith's door he heard the water running in the adjacent bathroom and that evil smile returned to his face. Striding through the bedroom door he shut it behind him and placed a force field emitter on it to keep his hunted prey from escaping until Jack was ready. He then placed one on the bathroom doorway that he could activate as soon as Major Smith re-entered the bedroom and set up a dampening field with his wrist strap to prevent the man calling for help.

With everything in place he settled himself on the bed, in a position that he knew looked inviting and waited for Smith to emerge.

XX

The next few days passed rather quickly for Ianto and the rest of the holiday goers and they were having a marvellous time. Two days into their stay in Canada Daniel asked Tosh and Ianto to excuse the rest of the group for just a minute while they spoke about something and Ianto, knowing what he meant, took Tosh for a walk around the lake.

He explained what was going on to the young computer genius and was pretty sure the woman would have been jumping and leaping on him had he not still been recovering from his wounds. She shared Daniel's confidence that everything would work out fine and wanting to get his mind off his current predicament Ianto then turned the conversation to Tosh and Teal'c.

Tosh blushed as she told Ianto how Teal'c had invited her to join him for dinner the night Daniel and Ianto had been stuck in the infirmary and how they'd hit it off quite well. When their dinner had ended Teal'c had invited her back to his room and she'd readily agreed. The woman thankfully didn't go into details, although she did say it was the best sex of her life and continued to be to this day, but said they'd been talking about making their little fling into a real relationship after the holidays were over.

Ianto asked how they planned to do that and Tosh explained that they were still working that bit out, but since they both worked crazy hours they could understand each other's insane schedule and would just have to find a way to work around it. Ianto gave her a hug and told her how happy he was that she'd found someone as lovely as she deserved –which was honestly true, he knew Teal'c was a good man and Tosh deserved that for once- although he did tease her a little about her affinity for aliens, which she then turned around and teased him about his affinity for men. It was light hearted and had them both laughing while they finished their walk around the lake and returned to the house.

They reached the back deck and found the group all seated as they had been when the pair left only now they all appeared to be quite deep in thought.

"Should we go away again?" Ianto asked cautiously and all eyes turned to him.

"No, no," Jack replied giving the pair a smile. "We were just mulling over how we're going to get Tosh and Teal'c back and forth so they can see each other every once in a while, any ideas on that?" he asked

"I had one or two," Tosh replied with a bright smile obviously happy that Teal'c had told the group of their desire to have a lasting relationship. She immediately entered into a conversation with Sam about something Ianto didn't understand so he turned his attention to Daniel who was looking at him with a sly, victorious smile. Ianto made his way over to where the man was sitting and slipped into the chair next to him he'd been occupying before he and Tosh went for their walk.

"Are you going to say 'I told you so?' " Ianto asked as he made himself comfortable.

"I thought about it," Daniel replied his grin getting even larger, "But I think I'm going to take the higher ground and just savour my victory in silence."

"You're such a modest creature aren't you?" Ianto asked sarcastically.

"Oh yes, that's me all over," Daniel replied his grin changing to a warm smile as he turned slightly in the chair to face Ianto. "Can I hold your hand?" he asked quietly.

"What do you think?" Ianto replied returning the other man's smile.

Daniel reached across and took Ianto's hand gently in his, most likely to avoid hurting his still healing injuries. Ianto entwined his fingers through Daniel's. It was nice, nothing demanding, nothing insistent, nothing that said there had to be more, just this and Ianto had never felt more content holding someone's hand before. A few moments passed before Ianto realized the rest of the group had fallen into silence once more. Daniel must have noticed too because he raised an eyebrow at Ianto questioningly. Ianto returned the expression and as one they turned to look at the rest of their friends to find the group's attention solely focused on them.

'At least they don't look upset,' Ianto thought to himself as he took in the gleeful expressions around him.

"It's just so adorable isn't it?" Janet asked causing the rest of the group to nod in agreement.

Ianto turned back to look at Daniel whose attention was once more directed at him. The archaeologist gave him a look that Ianto knew meant 'is this bothering you?'

Ianto shook his head before sending back a look that asked 'you?'

Daniel shook his head and the pair of them shared an amused look before shrugging in tandem and sitting back comfortably once more. "They'll get sick of it eventually," Daniel said quietly.

Ianto nodded in agreement.

XX

Later that night after the group had enjoyed a lovely dinner and were basking in the warmth of the evening with a glass of wine or a beer Jack's mobile rang drawing him inside. He was annoyed at the interruption of his holiday but he knew no one would call him unless it was important and just hoped no one was invading or something.

"O'Neill," he all but snapped after picking up the annoying, ringing object.

No one was invading, the world wasn't ending, but what the man on the other end of the phone told him was definitely important. As soon as the message had been imparted the man wished him a good evening and happy holidays before hanging up. Jack put the phone back on the table, where all the others had been left as it was the only place in the house that had good reception, and pondered over what he should do with the information he'd just been given. On one hand it could cause his team to wonder and worry and consequently ruin their holiday, on the other hand they deserved to know in case this spelled trouble for them. Of course there was a very real possibility that it meant something different all together.

"What's wrong?" the quiet, calming voice of his blonde lover drew his attention to her arrival and the worried look on her face that was directed at him.

"I don't know if I should tell you all or not," he replied reaching out to stroke Sam's hair gently.

"Is it bad?" she asked.

"Really it's probably not. and I honestly think I know what's happened anyway," Jack replied.

When he received a confused look from Sam in return he slipped an arm around her and headed back out to the deck with a quiet," Come on, I'll tell you all at once."

They reached the back deck and all conversation came to a halt when the group spotted the pair and the look on Jack's face.

"What's wrong?" Daniel asked.

"Has something unpleasant transpired, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked just moments after.

"I just received word that Major Smith is missing. He was last seen a few nights ago entering his apartment, after that there's nothing, not even on the CCTV footage from the camera outside his place. When he didn't turn up to work and nobody could get in touch with him UNIT sent agents over to his apartment to find him. He wasn't there. Nothing has been disturbed, there's no sign of a struggle, they said it's as if he just disappeared," Jack explained.

"Did he run away?" Janet asked, "Is there another way out of the building not covered by the CCTV? I mean he must know by now that we know he's the one who sent agents after us, I wouldn't want to stick around if I were him."

"No one knows. According to UNIT they had no idea about the attack and Smith showed no indication that he knew we were aware of his involvement; he wasn't nervous or jumpy at work, they said he appeared perfectly normal," Jack replied

"Are we sure they're not hiding him?" Paul asked.

"They were the ones who contacted us when they couldn't find him wanting to know if we had any intel about his whereabouts. If they knew there wouldn't be any reason for them to contact us at all, well, at least that's what the Pentagon seem to think," Jack replied.

"Unless they're trying to throw suspicion off themselves," Sam suggested.

"Could be the case, at any rate we won't know anything until someone finds him," Jack said with finality hoping to get back to a cheerier topic. He didn't want the others worrying about this; their holidays had already been ruined enough.

"No one will." All eyes turned to Ianto who was sitting beside Tosh the pair sharing a knowing and worried look. "Major Smith is gone, forever, no one's ever going to see him again."

"What do you mean?" Daniel asked although Jack was pretty sure most of them already knew the answer.

Ianto's attention turned to Jack. "That day we were at Torchwood and you sent us up to the surface ahead of you, you told Captain Harkness about Major Smith didn't you?" He asked.

Jack nodded already knowing where this was heading.

Ianto nodded in return, "Nobody will ever see Major Smith again," he said.

"I don't understand," Janet stated confused.

"Captain Harkness has a protective streak the size of Mt Everest," Ianto explained, "If he found out that someone tried to kidnap a member of his team…I know exactly what happened to that man, and nobody will ever see him again, dead or alive, there won't even be a body to identify."

"Are you sure it was him?" Paul asked.

"Yes," Tosh and Ianto replied in tandem.

"He's a victim of Torchwood now, and no one escapes Torchwood unless the Captain says so," Tosh finished in a foreboding tone that made everyone present shudder. Everyone that is except Jack who had already expected that to be the case.

He wanted to feel bad for the major, he really did; he just couldn't, not after the man had hurt his team. Of course voicing that opinion out loud probably wasn't the best idea so he chose to say nothing about the subject and instead changed the topic of discussion to something he did want to talk about.

"So, who wants cake? I bought chocolate this time."

XX

It was several hours after the rest of the team had fallen asleep that found Jack with Ianto's phone in hand searching for a number. He wasn't snooping and he kept telling himself that over and over again, it didn't make him feel any better about violating the man's privacy. He wasn't at all surprised to find the number still residing in the man's phone, he did however wonder whether it was there because Ianto wanted to keep it or because he'd simply forgotten to delete it. It didn't really matter right now however so Jack punched the number into his own phone and hit send.

It took only a couple of rings for the man on the other end to answer.

"Captain Harkness," the smooth, American voice greeted him.

"Good evening, Captain, this is General O'Neill, how're you doin?" Jack asked conversationally.

"Fine, General, how are you?" Captain Harkness returned the question cautiously.

"Pretty good, enjoying the rest of my holiday even if it's not in my cabin," Jack replied allowing some of the disappointment he felt at having to leave Minnesota to show through his tone.

"That's good," the captain replied and Jack could tell the man was waiting for him to explain his reason for calling.

"I noticed Major Smith disappeared just recently," Jack mentioned in the tone he always used when he wanted to sound unconcerned.

Captain Harkness was silent for a moment before asking, "And what of it?"

"Just wondering if you had anything to do with it?" Jack asked casually.

"Does it matter if I did?" Captain Harkness asked.

"Well, I am wondering if I should be sending Ianto and Tosh back to the base for their own protection," Jack replied.

The other end of the phone was silent for another few moments before Captain Harkness replied, "He got what he deserved, he's nobody's problem anymore."

Jack smiled, he shouldn't have but he did because damn it all the Captain was right, the man did get what he deserved, well, at least Jack hoped he did. "Ah, so I was right. Well, not exactly a loss to society. I won't be shedding any tears and I doubt anyone else will."

"No, I don't imagine they will," the Captain agreed.

"Any chance you're going to tell me what happened to the good Major?" Jack asked.

There was another pause before the Captain spoke, "Myfanwy and Janet happened," he said. "Ianto and Tosh can explain who they are."

"All right," Jack agreed deciding not to push the issue since it didn't sound like the man would tell him anymore anyway.

"Was there anything else you wanted?" the Captain asked.

"Nope," Jack replied.

"Good, then it's my turn to speak," the Captain said in a tone that broached no argument. "The other day you came to my base and insulted me. At the time I was more interested in finding out what you knew about Major Smith and ensuring that Ianto was taken care of. Now that those issues have been dealt with we can focus on the rest of our conversation. I don't care what you think of me, or what you've heard about me, you don't know me and you'll find there are very few people in this universe who do. In the case of most people the reason for that is simple, I don't want them to know me, who and what I am is none of their business. Most of the world falls into that category With other people the simple truth is that knowing me is dangerous for them and keeping them away is in their best interest, there are more people than I'd care to admit who fall into that category and they encompass the rest of the population." Here the captain paused and took a deep breath before continuing.

"Then are the people who do know me. There are very few of them as there have always been and almost every one of them ends up broken or damaged in some way. I'm not talking about Major Smith or people like him, in his case he was an evil man and I ended our fling when I found that out, not that it's any of your business. He and others like him didn't even scratch the surface of who I am and they never will no matter how much they dig. I'm talking now about people like Ianto, good, kind, caring, loving people who want nothing more than to live out their lives with me and be happy. They are the ones who end up hurt because of me and not because I want to harm them but because I can't live out my life with them! They grow old and frail and it kills them when they look at me and see that I haven't aged a day in all the years they've been with me. Those people I have to make myself walk away from because if I don't they only end up suffering more and more damage. When I was younger I made too many mistakes like that, I let too many people into my life and they all got hurt so eventually I just stopped doing it all together and I lived a long time like that." Here the captain paused again before continuing in a quieter voice.

"And then there was Ianto and don't fool yourself I loved him more than anything and anyone else I've ever known and I still do. I didn't want to love him, I didn't want him to become someone else ruined by me but I couldn't help it, it just happened. When I saw that he was falling for me too I knew I had to do something to get him away from me, but try as I might nothing worked and I couldn't send him away anywhere, he had nowhere to go. Then your letter showed up and I knew I finally had somewhere he could go that would suit his talents and keep him safe but of course he wouldn't leave, like Smith told you, Ianto is a loyal man and back then he was loyal to me. So I found a way to make him and considering my explanation of our relationship I'm sure you can imagine how I did it."

Jack could.

"So that's the truth of it all, General. I may not be a saint but I am not a coward. I may have done things in my life that I'm not proud of, but who hasn't. I just have more than most people because I've lived a hell of a lot longer!" the Captain finished.

Jack took a few moments to absorb what the other man had said before asking. "If your life is none of anyone else's business, why are you telling me all of this?"

"Because I think Torchwood and the SGC could be good allies," the captain replied, "I think we could help each other and this planet. But I know from your reputation that you wouldn't agree to something like that if you thought Torchwood was commanded by a coward," the captain explained.

"You want an alliance between us?" Jack asked wondering if he was going just a little crazy.

"Yes," the Captain replied.

"Tell you what I'll think about it," Jack replied and he would, considering all the things that fell through the rift having an in on the other side of the world wouldn't be a bad idea and they might be able to find some new technology in amongst the Torchwood archives that Jack had heard were quite extensive.

"Fine, let me know what you decide," the Captain replied.

"I will," Jack replied.

The line was filled with silence before the captain asked. "How is Ianto?"

"He's good, recovering from his wounds quite quickly," Jack replied

"He does that," the captain replied, "he's always been a quick healer."

"Does he have any idea that you-?" Jack started to ask only to be cut off by the other man's reply

"No he doesn't, he thinks I was using him as some temporary relief."

"And you don't think you maybe ought to tell him?" Jack asked.

"No," the Captain replied, "I don't ever want him to know. If he were to find out…well…he'd more than likely try to come back and he can't, not ever."

"Okay two things, firstly, just how big is your ego? Secondly why is it so important that he doesn't come back? I mean I heard everything you just said but you seem exceptionally adamant that he be nowhere near you. Call me crazy but I think there's more going on than you're telling me so spill it!" Jack ordered.

The captain sighed. "My ego isn't that big I just know Ianto, he has this thing about saving tortured souls and I'm about as tortured as they come, I also know he loves me, a lot, he talks in his sleep sometimes" –he didn't go into more detail and Jack was fine with that.- "As for why I don't want him to come back. A few months ago I heard from someone who would know that Ianto was going to die within the next couple of years if he didn't leave Torchwood. They couldn't tell me how or when exactly only that I had to get him away from here or his life was over. They said I wouldn't be able to save him no matter what I did, him leaving was the only way he'd survive so I did what I had to do to get him to leave," he explained.

"Well, that explains a lot. I wondered why he was so closed off when he first arrived at the SGC, if you're saying what I think you are I can understand him being hesitant to trust anyone again," Jack replied imagining the kind, quiet young man he'd come to know walking in on someone he loved cheating on him. It must have killed him and from the sound of the Captain's voice it had killed him too. "Hurt like a stake through the heart didn't it?"

"You have no idea," the captain replied quietly.

Thoughts of Sarah and Charlie flew unbidden into Jack's head, "Oh, you might be surprised," he replied.

They lapsed back into silence for a few minutes before Jack said. "Well, I guess I'll be going then, I'll get back to you about the alliance."

"All right, talk to you soon then."

The line went dead and Jack dropped his phone back on to the table with the others before heading toward the room he was sharing with Sam. Thoughts of Charlie were still churning through his head, whenever that happened there were only a couple of ways to make them go away all of which involved his team. The one he craved right at that moment was thankfully easy to attain since they were on holidays and away from the base. He slipped into the bedroom closing the door quietly behind him and headed over to the bed.

"Jack?" Sam's quiet voice asked and he smiled at her rare use of his first name.

"Yeah it's me," he whispered stripping off his clothes and slipping into the bed beside her.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

"Yeah everything's fine," Jack replied pulling her delightfully naked body close.

Sam cuddled into him and was soon sleeping soundly once more.

Jack kissed her soft, blonde hair before burying his face in it and closing his eyes savouring the feeling of having her close, something that only happened when they were away from the base. Her presence always calmed his mind and now was no exception, soon the troubling thoughts of his son were slipping away and he was drifting off to sleep his mind full of the woman in his arms.

XX

End of chapter

Okay guys so what did you think? Please review and let me know I'm really interested to hear your opinions about where things are going.


	9. Note the Sarcasm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning, some darkness and naughty words ahead. I hope you enjoy the chapter :)

Captain Jack Harkness followed Tosh and Mickey around the hub with a grin, watching his resident computer genius go over every inch of Torchwood's computer system with her current understudy, to ensure he'd take good care of the place in her absence. It was cute how much Tosh loved her computers and very funny listening to Mickey humour her even though he already knew all of this, something Jack was pretty sure he was only capable of because he'd spent so long with Rose as his girlfriend. The girl has been lovely and gorgeous but very bossy!

When Tosh had returned from her holidays and informed him that General O'Neill had accepted his proposal he'd been more than a little surprised, he'd honestly thought the man would turn him down. When said man then called him and suggested he send a staff member, namely Tosh because they all liked her, to the SGC to learn about them he was further surprised, and a little hesitant. Tosh was his computer genius and he didn't want to be without her at work for any long periods of time. He'd told the General he'd consider it, but it wasn't until he'd run into Mickey again after years of not seeing the man, and remembered his talent for computers, that he'd decided the plan was doable; as long as Mickey had time to settle in and get to know the computer systems.

And so it was, only a month later, he was ready to send Tosh to the SGC for a while. The current plan was for a month, but Tosh would be available to Torchwood at all times should Mickey be unable to handle anything. They'd both agreed that since the SGC already had Ianto sending someone to Torchwood was unnecessary and Jack was quite pleased with that outcome. Not that he didn't trust the General and his people, he did, he just didn't like a lot of people sniffing around his hub and quite honestly the only person he'd have allowed to come there would have been Ianto which of course couldn't happen.

At last the day had come and Tosh was, of course, running through everything again, in case her doing so for the last month hadn't sunk into Mickey's brain yet. Jack was about to head down and rescue Mickey when the hub door opened with all the usual alarms and fanfare and Ianto stepped through looking delectable as always. Jack squashed down the urge to grin at the other man suggestively as he'd always done before Ianto had left the hub and instead greeted him with a friendly but cautious smile. "Ianto."

"Captain," Ianto greeted him politely in return and Jack ignored the nasty feeling that immediately filled his stomach.

Tosh running up to Ianto and throwing her arms around him broke the tense moment and Jack was grateful for that.

"I've missed you," Tosh said happily as Ianto hugged her back.

"I've missed you too and I'm not the only one," he replied with a grin as they parted. Jack was surprised to see Tosh blush. She'd only told the group a little about what had happened on her holidays and Jack had been curious about what else might have happened, but Tosh hadn't been forthcoming so he hadn't pried knowing she was a private person. Now he was even more curious than he had been before.

"How is everyone?" Tosh asked quietly, blush still firmly in place.

"Everyone is good," Ianto replied with a knowing smile and Tosh elbowed him lightly, giving him a playful glare that he returned with a grin.

Her look turned calculating then and she asked, "And how is everyone else then, Ianto?"

Ianto just grinned back at her seemingly unruffled before replying. "Everyone's good, Tosh."

"Good," Tosh replied with a knowing grin before making her way over to her desk to grab her things. "Call me if there's any problems, Jack, I'll come back if I have to," she said obviously excited to be going but concerned about the hub at the same time.

"Will do, Tosh, have a good time," Jack replied with a grin knowing she'd understand he was on to her and would be asking plenty of questions when she returned.

Tosh looked at him cautiously for a moment before replying, "Will do," and heading back over to where Ianto was standing, bags in hand. Ianto took one of them and asked Jack to say hello and goodbye to Owen for him before turning to head toward the exit with Tosh.

Alarms started blaring around them as they reached the door and it swung closed in front of them as the computer announced a lockdown. Jack turned to Mickey who was looking the screens in front of him in confusion and shock.

"What's happening?" he demanded moving over to the man.

"I don't know, the system's locked me out," Mickey replied.

Tosh moved over to them both and looked over Mickey's shoulder as Jack was studying the screen that indeed seemed to be agreeing with Mickey's statement. She leaned between them and began typing in commands, her fingers flying over the keys.

"I'm trying to find where the command was issued from," she explained as Ianto moved over to join them.

"It came from me!" A voice announced over the com, reverberating around the room. Jack had to fight not to groan when recognition hit him; Captain John Hart.

"What do you want John?" Jack called out as Tosh and Ianto sighed and Mickey looked confused.

"What makes you think I want anything, Jack?" John asked.

"You locked us in the hub," Jack replied as if it should have been obvious.

"Yeah, well, maybe I just wanted to get a good look at you all while you couldn't get away," John replied.

"We don't have time for your stupid games, John, what the hell do you want?" Jack demanded angrily.

"Wow, you're not being very nice to me today, Jack, what the hell have I ever done to you?" John asked feigning hurt.

"Shall I start with the part where you attacked my team or the part where you threw me off a roof?" Jack asked in return.

"You all recovered," John replied defensively causing Ianto and Tosh to roll their eyes again and Mickey to look even more confused.

"John!" Jack snarled annoyed at the thought of his Hub being controlled by someone else, especially a homicidal maniac like John.

"Fine then, if you don't want to play nice I won't; I want revenge," John replied coldly.

"For what exactly?" Jack asked.

"For taking what's mine," John replied matter-of-factly.

"And what exactly have I taken from you?" Jack asked angrily.

"Whoever said I was talking to you?" John asked. "Full of yourself much?"

"What the hell are you talking about, John?" Jack demanded more than thoroughly frustrated now. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ianto typing something into what appeared to be a palm pilot but he looked up immediately when John replied.

"You, Jack, I want revenge on the one who stole you from me, namely Eyecandy."

All eyes turned to Ianto whose expression went from surprised, to nervous, to hurt before finally settling on angry. "I haven't stolen anything from you, Hart!" he snarled. "And for god's sake my name is Ianto!"

"I like Eye-candy better, and yes you have, you stole Jack from me, I know you did," John snarled.

"No one's stolen Jack, John. Jack belongs to himself and he's not tied to anyone, least of all me," Ianto explained.

"Yes he is, I saw it last time I was here, I saw the way you looked at each other," John argued.

"You've not been here for a while, Hart, I don't even live in this country anymore," Ianto argued back. "And even if I did Jack didn't belong to me. You know 51st century customs better than anyone, Jack doesn't do relationships and all that. I was just a way to pass the time and it's done now, all of this is pointless. Unlock the hub and I'll happily go back home. We won't have to see each other again, ever."

"I'm not going to be fooled that easily Eye-candy."

Ianto just groaned in annoyance and turned to look at Jack with a heated glare. "What is it with you and nut-jobs anyway?" he snarled. "I moved to another god damned country and they still won't leave me alone."

Jack was opening his mouth to reply when John spoke again. "Ooh, lovers quarrel. Please, do continue, I'll just get a drink."

Ianto just shook his head and moved to sit down on the closest ledge.

"Oh come on now, don't ruin my fun. I'll have to find another way to amuse myself then," John said sounding disappointed.

"I don't know quite how to say this so it gets through to you 51st century males but I'll try one more time; I am not a toy for your amusement! Go and find another hobby, I'm sure there's plenty more things, and people, you could be doing in plenty of other time periods!"

"Ooh, I think I've made him mad," John said and this time it wasn't over the intercom, but the man himself as he entered the room, two very large guns in his hands. "All right, you lot, into the dungeon now," he ordered pointing the gun at Tosh. They all moved to comply, knowing John was unstable, and John just grinned at them like a loon. Ianto walked beside Tosh and Jack saw him reach out for her hand, clasping it tightly in his own. He squashed down the feelings of jealousy that action brought up in him and focused on the current problem.

The lockdown would be in effect for at least 12 hours and both Gwen and Owen were out on a mission. They wouldn't be able to access the hub which meant they'd know something was going on as soon as they got back, if they didn't try to radio in first and realise they couldn't reach anyone. Of course, there was no way for them to gain access to the hub either, so they couldn't help at all. The SGC should be expecting to hear from Ianto, but Jack didn't know when, so he couldn't expect help from that quarter.

They were on their own, so he had to figure out something he could do to get them away from John.

They reached the cells faster than Jack would have liked and John took all their things from them before ordering Jack to strip from the waist up, just for a good view, and locked them all in a cell. After he disappeared Jack prowled the cell, ignoring the dungeon chill as he tried to think of some way out. Damn them all for making the cells so efficient.

XX

Ianto wasn't sure how long they sat there in the cell, he knew it was long enough for Tosh to explain what was going on to Mickey, before John returned, gun in hand. He opened the door and immediately shot Jack in the head, killing him instantly. He ordered Ianto to follow him and even though Tosh clung to him trying to keep him there, he disentangled himself from her hold and followed the maniac. No reason for anyone else to suffer due to Jack's penchant for picking up psychos.

As they walked along the corridors he could only think about Daniel and how he hoped his message had gotten through to the archaeologist through the lockdown. If it hadn't he had no idea how long it would be before someone realised something wasn't right and came looking. Even if they did there was no guarantee they'd be able to get in to help him, but he would feel at least a little better if he knew for sure they were trying.

They reached the open part of the hub and John paused a moment to look at something on one of the screens. Seeing it as his chance to escape Ianto grabbed John's gun and tried to pull it away from his hands. John kept a tight hold of it however and they began to wrestle with the weapon. Ianto managed to knock him back into one of the computer terminals and John hit his head rather hard, leaving him momentarily stunned. Ianto took the opportunity to turn and run, hoping to escape into the archives. He was almost to the corridor he needed, when he heard the weapon fire and a blast of energy hit him in the back, sending him sprawling to the floor.

Moments later he was unconscious.

XX

Daniel ran into Jack's office, worry pulsing through his body and his phone held tightly in his hands. The message from Ianto had come through a few minutes ago and it just said, "help!". He'd tried to call the Welshman several times since hoping it was a joke, but the phone wasn't accepting calls and he was getting more and more frightened for the other man by the second. He burst into Jack's office without knocking and completely ignored the people sitting in front of the General's desk.

"Jack, I just got a message from Ianto asking for help. I thought he might have been joking but the phone's not even ringing, something's wrong."

Jack looked back at him in alarm for a moment before jumping up from his chair and heading around the desk toward Daniel. "Excuse me, gentlemen," Jack said as he passed the two men in the chairs and Daniel lead the way out into the corridor. He passed Jack the phone to see the message for himself as they headed for the embarkation room (LOL couldn't resist). He studied if for a minute before handing it back.

"Okay keep trying to get in contact with him, I'll call the Promethius and see what they can find out."

Daniel nodded and tried dialling Ianto's number again.

XX

Ianto awoke slowly, with a pounding headache and arms that were screaming at him in pain. It took his groggy brain a few moments to realise the reason for that was they were chained up above him and were all that was supporting his body weight as his legs were slack beneath him. He forced his legs to hold him up and opened his eyes, blinking several times to adjust to the light that immediately invaded them. He was in Jack's office and currently alone from what he could see. Looking up he found that his arms were hanging from chains that had been fixed into the ceiling and looking down he found his ankles were similarly chained to the floor. He didn't know where John had gone, but he was sure the man wouldn't be far away.

He heard the sound of dragging and looked round to see John dragging Jack into the room; the man either still dead from his previous shooting or killed again by John before being brought up here. John dragged him round to in front of Ianto and chained him up in the same fashion. When Jack woke up they'd be eye to eye and less than a metre apart.

"Ah Eye-candy, I see you're awake," John commented sounding gleeful. "Good, I was hoping you'd be conscious while I did this."

Before Ianto could wonder what the man was talking about John thrust his hands into Ianto's chest and pain shot through every nerve in his body, ripping a scream from his throat. When he'd managed to calm down enough to process what was happening around him again he found John laughing gleefully and Jack, having obviously just come back to life, looking at him in horror.

"John, what the hell are you doing?" Jack demanded.

"Just getting the fun started," John replied. "What do you think of your new jewellery, Eye-candy?"

Ianto looked down and let out a cry of shock when he found two metal discs resting against his skin, blood seeping out from beneath them.

"What the hell is this?" he demanded.

"Well, these are torture discs, and with a press of a button-" Pain shot through Ianto again, worse than the jolt of the discs piercing his skin. It was like every nerve in his body was on fire, he'd never felt anything so horrible in his life.

"John, stop it!" Jack yelled, although Ianto barely heard it over his own screams. He was scared and hurting, but at the moment, more than anything, he was pissed off. He'd left Torchwood, gotten as far away as he could, why was it that he could never escape Jack's influence? The crazy ex's seemed to turn up in his life regardless.

When the pain died down this time he turned a hateful glare to Jack and snarled, "I hate you so much right now!"

"I know, I'm sorry," Jack replied and Ianto knew it was sincere, it didn't take the anger away though. Another jolt went through the discs and he focused his attention back on Jack when it was done. "Seriously, am I the most normal person you've ever slept with? Because that's really saying something about you."

Another jolt.

"I left this place, went to the other side of the damn world and I still can't escape the crazies you seem to attract!"

Another jolt, and this time he turned his attention to John. "And what about you, you nutter? What the hell is wrong with you anyway? Don't you have any self respect?" Another jolt. "I'm sure you could find someone else to fixate on if you looked hard enough." Another jolt. "And even if you can't don't you have some sort of futuristic 51st century thing that can tell you that I've not been anywhere near Jack in months? Seriously, he's all yours, he didn't want me anyway." Another jolt and this time John spoke.

"Lies! I know they are. He's in love with you, I can see it in his eyes!"

"Oh, no he's not! Jack doesn't love anyone but himself, well, maybe his doctor. You know as well as I do that people from your century don't love, all they do is fuck as many things as they can find!" Another jolt.

"That's not true," John screamed. "I love him!" Another jolt was sent through the discs.

"Well you're doing a bang up job of showing him aren't you! Is this how you people show affection in your time because that is pretty messed up, John!" Another jolt through the discs.

"John Stop it!" Jack screamed this time. "Ianto's right he doesn't even live in this country now. He only came back to visit the others, we don't even speak anymore!" he shouted desperately.

John whirled around to face Jack. "Tell me you don't love him!" he demanded.

"I don't love him," Jack replied evenly and Ianto was surprised by how little it hurt to hear that now.

"See! Now let me go and you two can hump like bunnies for all I care," Ianto demanded angrily.

"Nope, he's lying!" John said simply and before anything more could be said he grabbed Jack's gun from the desk where it had been sitting and shot Jack in the knee cap. The captain screamed and his legs gave out under him leaving him hanging from the ceiling by his arms. Ianto winced in sympathy, it didn't matter if the man would recover, pain was pain and kneecaps hurt.

"Want to try that again?" John asked looking at Jack. "How about the truth this time, Jack?"

Jack was shaking but he looked up and met John's gaze with an expression of utter hatred. "I do not love Ianto," he said through gritted teeth and John just shook his head.

"Liar!" he screamed out and shot Jack's other knee. "And as for you." He turned back to Ianto and sent another jolt through the discs, this one lasting until Ianto blacked out from the pain.

XX

"The Promethius can't scan the interior of the Torchwood hub, General, there's some kind of energy barrier blocking our sensors," the tech reported and Jack and Daniel shared a worried look.

"What's going on?" Sam asked appearing up in the control room with Teal'c.

"Something's happened to Ianto and we can't get in contact with him to find out what," Daniel replied. "We're trying to get a scan of the hubs interior but no luck so far."

"Let me go up there, I might have better luck," Sam suggested. "I did get a pretty good look at Torchwood's computer systems and safety features when we were there last time and Tosh gave me computer access."

"All right, go ahead," Jack agreed before turning back to Walter. "Radio the Promethius and get them to beam Carter up there," he ordered. Seconds later Sam disappeared and Jack turned to find Daniel looking at him worriedly.

"What do we do now?" the younger man asked. "There has to be something we can do other than sit here."

Jack thought for a second before looking at Walter again. "Find out where the Promethius sent Ianto and where they planned to collect him from once Tosh was with him." he ordered. "Let's go," he said to Daniel, ushering him out of the control room.

"Where are we going?" Daniel asked.

"To get changed," Jack replied. "We're going to Wales."

They threw on civilian clothes as quickly as they could and only 10 minutes later the Promethius was beaming them down into what appeared to be a tourist office. A quick glance around the room and Jack spotted two people he recognised from the last time he'd been here.

"Any idea what's going on?" he asked the pair as they looked up from the computer that was sitting on the desk in the centre of the room.

"Hub's gone into lockdown," the man, Owen, replied. "We don't know why though, we've been trying to find out."

"What are you doing here?" the woman, Gwen, demanded.

"Ianto's in there," Daniel replied. "He managed to get a message out to us asking for help, but he's been out of contact since."

Owen and Gwen exchanged a worried look before turning back to the computer.

"It looks like the lockdown was triggered from somewhere inside the base, but we can't find out why or by whom," Gwen explained studying the computer some more.

"Either of you good with this kind of thing?" Jack asked.

"Not really, this is Tosh and Mickey's area of expertise," Owen replied.

"Right-oh," Jack tapped his radio. "Promethius, send Carter down here would you please," he ordered.

They acknowledged and moments later Sam appeared beside them. "We need some hacking," Jack explained with a sweep of his arm toward the computer.

"I'll see what I can do," Sam replied moving toward the computer.

"Wait, this is our computer system," Gwen protested.

"And we're your allies," Jack argued back with fake cheerfulness. "Or don't you want to get into your hub and fund out what's wrong?"

Gwen and Owen exchanged a look before moving aside and letting Sam get to the computer. "McKay arrived up there just before you brought me down, he's working on that end now," Sam told Jack as she started typing.

"Joy," Jack replied dryly. "I bet you were so sad to leave."

"Indescribably, Sir," Sam replied with smile.

XX

When Ianto came to this time John was doing something awful to Jack, he couldn't see properly what it was as his back was to Ianto, but the noises the captain was making told him he was glad to have his view blocked.

A chime sounded on John's wrist strap. "Oh look, Jack, Eye-candy is awake at last." Ianto rolled his eyes as the man turned around and he finally got a good look at what he'd been doing to Jack. There was a smily face carved into his chest and stomach that was still dripping blood. Ianto felt sick. "I wondered if you were ever going to wake up," John said cheerfully before pressing something on the back of his hand Ianto hadn't noticed before and sending a jolt of pain through Ianto again.

"Sorry, I just can't resist, it's so much fun to watch you scream," the man said with a gleeful smile. Ianto glared at him hatefully. "Ooh, if looks could kill. Anyway, I've been trying to work out what to do with you two while you've been out to it. I mean I don't want to kill you, not really, then I can't torture you anymore. Well, not Jack obviously, but you know what I mean. So what to do? I love watching you scream but, there's so many other things I can do with you too. You see while I told you before that these were torture discs they're actually not, the proper name for them is sensation discs and they can be used to deliver any kind of sensation I want. For example-"

John pressed a button on the back of his hand again and this time it felt like Ianto had been dumped in a barrel of icy water. He cried out in shock, but the sensation was gone as soon as it had come. "You see there's all sorts of things I can do with this including making you feel really good." Another press of buttons and pleasure flowed through every nerve ending in Ianto's body, the kind he'd only ever felt during sex. It vanished as the other feelings had, very quickly. "You see I could put a couple of these in Jack, don't know how long they'd last but we could find out, make you both as horny as bunnies, lock you in a room with me and see how long you'd last before you either give in and jump each other, or me, or go mad. That sounds kind of fun."

For the first time since this whole ordeal had started Ianto started to feel helpless. He could deal with pain, he could deal with insults and barbs, even death, but to have his control over his own body's reactions taken away from him; that truly scared him. He silently begged the universe to get him out of this, get him away from this lunatic and back to Daniel. All he wanted right now was to be in the archaeologist's arms.

"You're very quiet over there Eye-candy, have I finally subdued you? Or do you like my plan?" John purred reaching out to stroke his hand over Ianto's chest.

"Don't touch me!" Ianto snarled, but inside he was shaking and scared. John's fingers brushed over the discs on his chest and the sensation jolted right through him.

"But I want to touch you, maybe I want to find out what it is Jack finds so appealing about you."

Ianto didn't reply, he closed his eyes and tried to think about something else, anything else. His thoughts flew to Daniel again, but he pushed them aside, he didn't want his thoughts of the archaeologist soured by what was currently happening to him. He heard John press buttons on his device and lust pulsed through Ianto hard and fast. He could feel his body reacting to John's touch even though his mind was completely repulsed.

"John, stop it! Leave him alone you monster!" Jack screamed. John just chuckled and came around to stand behind Ianto, his hands stroking Ianto's chest.

"But why? I think it would be fun to fuck your little pet in front of you," John said, his hand moving lower. "He's so young and fit, I bet he's tight too."

The revulsion grew stronger in Ianto, pushing the lust away a bit at a time. He could fight this and he would, any way he could. He was not going to give in to John Fucking Hart. He felt John's lips close on the back of his neck and it gave him an idea. Bringing his chin down to his chest he took a deep breath before throwing his head backwards and smashing it into John's face. He felt a sick satisfaction at the crack that echoed through the room, indicating that he'd done at least some damage to the psycho's face. John howled in pain and Ianto smiled, that was so worth the headache and whatever pain would come next. John stumbled away holding his face and Ianto could see blood dripping from beneath his hands.

"You bastard, you'll pay for that!" John squealed beneath his hands and Ianto could only laugh. Seconds later, pain jolted through him again.

XX

End of chapter.

Ooh a bit of a cliffie. Don't worry the next chapter is written, just needs to be updated. Will they be saved? Find out in our next instalment. Oh and I'd love to hear what you think, reviews make my day :)


	10. Note the Sarcasm pt2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI all, another update for today. I hope you like the conclusion of this little adventure. Please review and let me know what you think. Also for those of you who aren't Torchwood fans, the title comes from a line John Hart says the first time he's in Torchwood.

Note the Sarcasm Pt2

“Colonel, I’ve found a gap in the security screen, it’s in two minutes time and I can only sent three people through it with Promethius transporters. The next gap won’t be for another ten minutes after that,” Sam explained.

“All right,” Jack tapped his radio. “We need combat gear down here now,” he ordered and seconds later vests and weapons appeared beside the group. “Teal’c and I will go with the doctor over there, in case anyone’s injured.”

“Jack-” 

“Daniel I know you want to go in there,” Jack cut the archaeologist off before he could protest. “You and Carter can come in with the next group, along with what’s her name over there. No arguments.”

Daniel didn’t look happy, but he backed away without argument and while Jack was always nervous about Daniel giving in so easily, he had to hope it was because the other man understood why he had made this decision. 

They geared up and before Jack could blink they were appearing inside the hub.

“Where are we?” Jack asked Owen moments before a loud scream touched their ears.

“This way,” Owen directed and headed down a corridor, Jack and Teal’c following close behind. They reached the main area of the hub and Jack looked up at Captain Harkness’ office in alarm. He could see Ianto trussed up to the ceiling, screaming at the top of his lungs, while a man stood behind him, smiling gleefully around a bleeding nose. He couldn’t see the Captain, but he could hear the man screaming at the bleeding man to stop.

“You stay here,” he ordered Owen who glared at him angrily.

“I don’t take orders from you!” he snarled.

“Are you special forces trained, kid?” Jack demanded.

“No,” Owen replied reluctantly. “But this is my base and I know that man very well. I’m not going to sit here while you go up there without me, not a chance.”

Jack wanted to snarl the boy’s head off, but he knew there was no time. “Fine, just do what I tell you,” he snapped.

“I’ll think about it.”

Jack rolled his eyes and went about issuing orders.

XX

Ianto’s world had narrowed to the feeling of pain coursing through every nerve ending in his body. He was pretty sure his voice was about to go and if he didn’t pass out soon he’d be very surprised. He could hear Jack screaming in the background, all but begging John to leave him alone; but of course the maniac wasn’t listening. The pain cut off abruptly and he heard the sound of a gun being cocked. He heard several shots fire, along with several cries of pain from, Jack before he felt the barrel push against his forehead. He opened his eyes to find John, shaking with anger, blood still dripping from his very misshapen nose, holding the gun to his head.

“You know what, I will kill you. What do I need you for anyway, I have Jack over there to torture for as long as I live. You’re just a useless hip attachment really and would only cause me trouble.”

“Don’t like it so much when things don’t go your way do you, Hart?” Ianto asked with a mocking smile. If he was going to die he’d make his last words a sarcastic jab at John. “Jack will never love you. You’re a homicidal maniac who looks like a gerbil, and honestly, who’d love that? You can kill me all you like it won’t change anything, so why not just turn the gun on yourself and be done with it. Believe me, it’d be far less painful than trying to make Jack Harkness feel anything but a passing fancy for you. I’ve learnt that lesson, I would have thought you’d have learnt it by now too.”

“You’re wrong!” John roared.

“Am I?” Ianto asked mockingly. “Well, I guess you’ll find out for yourself soon enough.”

“You’ll still be dead!” John spat.

“Yeah, but at least I went to my grave with enough self respect to know I deserve better. You’ll never be able to say that.”

John growled loudly and stepped back, raising the gun up to fire.

Ianto closed his eyes, allowing his thoughts to wander to Daniel. He mentally apologised to the lovely archaeologist for being another person to leave him. The man had lost so many people already, he’d really hoped not to add to the number. Although honestly, in their line of work, it really was fools dream. He thought about the man’s beautiful blue eyes, his soft, caring voice and sent a thought out to the universe even though he knew there was no way the man would hear it, ‘Daniel, I love you.’

 A metalic sound echoed through the room and Ianto’s eyes snapped open in time to see John’s body shaking as electricity coursed through him. A moment later he fell to the ground and Ianto looked round to see Teal’c moving up the stairs toward the office, Zat in hand.

“Teal’c,” Ianto breathed in relief as the jaffa stopped in the doorway and General O’Neill and Owen appeared beside him.

“Nice shot,” the General praised looking down at John. 

“I’m afraid I had to step outside the parameters of your plan O’Neill,” Teal’c reported, glancing round at O’Neill.

“I think I can live with that.” Teal’c inclined his head. “This time.” The Jaffa paused in his head raise and cocked an eyebrow at O’Neill. 

They were making their way toward Ianto when a green mist, sparking with blue bolts of energy, flew out of John’s body and headed for the ceiling.

“What the hell?” O’Neill asked.

“Shoot it,” Jack gasped from his bindings, and Ianto looked over momentarily to see a bullet hole slowly closing up in his throat, before looking back at the misty creature. Teal’c fired his zat at the cloud several times and it dispersed into wisps of nothingness.

“And that was?!” O’Neill demanded looking over at Jack.

“A vengeance spirit,” Jack replied as Owen came over to unchain him and Teal’c did the same with Ianto. 

“A vengeance what?”

“They’re energy beings that attach themselves to ordinary people, find something that’s bothering them, and warp it until that person can’t see anything but a bloodthirsty desire for revenge. They help that person find a way to gain that revenge and feed of the pain and suffering it causes in others. When at last they’ve used their host as much as they can and/or the target of said person’s revenge is dead, they leave the host and move on. The person remembers nothing about what they’ve done,” Jack explained, thanking Owen for freeing him. The doctor then headed over to Ianto and ordered Teal’c to bring him down to the medical bay while Jack dug some restraints out of his desk and secured John’s hands. 

Ianto allowed Teal’c to take most of his weight, which the Jaffa was thankfully more than capable of doing, as they made their way through the hub to the medical bay, both Jacks close behind.

“So you mean to tell me, someone could cut you off at an intersection or steal your parking space and this thing could jump into your head and make you kill them for it?” O’Neill asked incredulously as Owen directed Teal’c to lie Ianto down on the bed.

“That’s right,” Jack replied

“Does that happen often?”

“Not so much here,” Jack replied, “There aren’t a lot in this time, however, there are more than a few patients in psychiatric wards around the world who’ve killed people and claim to have no memory of the event. We’ve never caught the spirit leaving their body to know for sure, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they were involved. By the way, how long does that stun last on your weapon?” he asked.

“Depends on the person,” O’Neill replied and Jack excused himself back up to his office to retrieve John Hart. He returned with him moments later and dumped him on the floor at the top of the stairs where they could watch him, securing his bonds to the staircase and removing the vortex manipulator from his wrist. 

Owen ran the scanner over Ianto, not bothering to ask how he was feeling which was probably for the best, Ianto wasn’t sure how he’d answer. O’Neill’s hand suddenly flew to his ear and he listened for a minute before saying, “Yes, he’s just getting checked over … Are you? … Okay, tell Tosh and what’s her face with the eyeliner to bring you all to the medical bay … righto.” He turned to look at Ianto then. “Sam, Daniel and what’s her face are here now, they’ve got Tosh and another fellow out of the cell they were in and they’re bringing them up.”

Ianto closed his eyes and nodded, a relieved sigh escaping him. He couldn’t describe just how desperately he wanted to see Daniel right now. He heard the sound of running footsteps moments before Tosh and Daniel appeared at the top of the stairs with the others.

“Ianto,” Tosh and Daniel called out together, Tosh’s coming out more like a sob. They ran down the stairs toward him, but Owen stopped them with a hand up. 

“Wait, I’m scanning him,” he ordered watching the screen in front of him. Ianto looked at Daniel whose beautiful blue eyes were boring into his, full of worry, relief and impatience. His hand was fidgeting by his side, obviously wanting to reach out and touch Ianto. It took what felt like forever and Ianto was about to leap off the bed into Daniel’s arms when the doctor finally announced that he was done. Tosh dove on him first and Ianto gasped as the fabric of her jacket touched the metal discs on his skin.

“Sorry, are you all right?” Tosh asked, tears shining in her lovely brown eyes.

“Yeah, it’s these things, anything that touches them is amplified and your jacket is just a bit rough,” Ianto explained gently as she eased back, looking apologetic.

“Sorry,” she said softly, reaching out to squeeze his hand.

“It’s okay,” he reassured her, squeezing back.

“I’m really glad you’re okay,” she said. “We could hear you down there and …” she trailed off, the tears spilling over.

He reached out and gently stroked her face with his thumb. “I’m okay,” he promised her and she nodded to him before pulling away and apologising softly to Daniel. He nodded to her and she ran over to where Teal’c was standing, throwing herself immediately into the Jaffa’s arms.

Daniel approached cautiously, although Ianto could tell it was a tremendous effort not to just leap on him. Ianto pushed himself up into a sitting position and reached out for the archaeologist, wanting desperately to be held by the other man. “Am I going to hurt you if I get too close?” he asked worriedly.

“I don’t care,” Ianto told him honestly. Daniel removed the tack vest, crossed the distance between them and pulled Ianto into his arms. Ianto cuddled into him, burying his face in the other man’s neck and glad that the fabric of his shirt was soft. Daniel stroked his hair softly and Ianto burrowed deeper into the archaeologist’s hold. They didn’t speak, there wasn’t anything that needed to be said. He knew Daniel had been worried about him and was glad he was all right, just as Daniel probably knew he’d been terrified and desperately wanted comfort. 

“Ianto, I’m afraid I have some bad news.” Owen’s voice broke into their moment and Ianto asked what it was without looking up from Daniel’s neck. “The discs can’t be removed, they’ve attached themselves to your nervous system and removing them would cause irreversible damage.”

“So I’m going to spend the rest of my life walking around with these things in my body?” Ianto asked, feeling sick at the prospects.

“I’m afraid so,” Owen replied.

“So what about when I have to put clothes on again? I can buy soft fabric all I like, eventually anything rubbing against these for a long period of time is going to drive me mad.”

“You get covers for them.” 

Everybody in the room looked up to find John Hart awake and looking down into the medical bay. 

“They can be quite a lot of fun if used the right way, but of course, heightened sensation all the time was a drawback to the design, as was the possibility of remotes accidentally effecting the wrong implants. So the same people who made them designed covers to go over the top. They protect the wearer from constant rubbing contact, block remote signals to the discs and protect the devices themselves from damage that may occur from accidental knocking and the like. They were made of an insanely strong metal, I’m pretty sure even weapons fire couldn’t penetrate it. I have one on my ship … which is where by the way? Actually forget that, how did I get here? Why am I tied up? Why can’t I breathe properly and why do you all look like you want to kill me?”

“We do,” Teal’c replied and John looked down at him. 

“Well hello there, big fellow. Whatever I did to upset you I apologise, I assure you it wouldn’t have been on purpose.”

Ianto wanted to cry, why did life have to keep throwing this rubbish his way. “It’s okay,” Daniel soothed, whether just in general or because he could feel Ianto trying not to lose it Ianto wasn’t sure. “It’s going to be all right.”

“Why do I have a control panel for those discs on the back of my hand?” John asked and Ianto tensed. He’d completely forgotten about that. He pulled back from Daniel to see Jack reefing John forward and pulling the panel off the other time agent’s hand. 

“Tell me what does what?” Jack demanded.

“How much range does it have?” Ianto asked, interrupting Jack’s question.

“A kilometre maybe,” John replied.

“Will destroying it do anything to me?”

“No, you just won’t be able to use it anymore.”

“Fine, give it to me and I’ll destroy it!” Ianto ordered.

“No, I’ll take care of it after you leave,” Jack replied slipping the panel in his pocket. “That way you’re out of range in case it does effect the discs.”

Ianto studied him for a moment, wondering if there was an ulterior motive to the man’s offer. He dismissed it as unimportant however, figuring it wouldn’t matter anyway. He’d already decided he was never going to come back here. “Fine.”

“All right, that’s settled then. Doc, is he fine otherwise?” O’Neill asked.

“Yes, the discs simulate sensations in the wearer, they haven’t harmed you physically at all,” Owen replied directing the answer to Ianto who nodded.

“Right then, let’s get you out of here,” O’Neill suggested, moving to help Ianto off the bed. He tapped his head set, “Promethius we’re ready to go whenever you can get us.” 

A few moments later they appeared in the Promethius’ transporter room and Jack was directing the technicians to send them all to different locations. Tosh was staying with Ianto and Daniel while she was there and they’d extended the invitation to Teal’c as well so the two could be together somewhere off base. The four were beamed down together just inside the apartment and Daniel directed the couple to their room before helping Ianto into his.

“What do you need?” he asked as they reached the door.

“A shower, but I want you to come with me,” Ianto replied honestly.

“Of course I will,” Daniel agreed helping him into the ensuite. He turned the taps on and helped Ianto undress before shucking his own clothing. They climbed into the shower and Ianto dove under the spray that was a little hotter than he’d usually like, particularly when it hit the discs, but right now felt just perfect. He wanted to scald and scrub the feeling of this day off his skin.

Daniel soaped up a cloth and handed it to Ianto before repeating the action with another one and running it over Ianto’s back. It felt heavenly and Ianto abandoned his own washing momentarily to enjoy the sensation. When he was scrubbed clean and had washed his hair thoroughly he all but fell into Daniel’s arms, holding the archaeologists tightly against him.

“I was so worried about you,” Daniel whispered.

“I was completely terrified,” Ianto admitted.

“What did he do to you?”

Ianto hesitated for a moment, deciding whether to tell Daniel the whole truth or not.

“You don’t have to tell me if you’re not ready,” the other man’s soft voice assured and it was this that made his decision for him. It was safe to tell Daniel everything, the other man would never judge him or pity him for it. So he told him everything, and even though his body was shaking slightly at the end of it all he felt better knowing he hadn’t had to keep any of it inside.

Daniel listened silently and when Ianto was finished he helped him out of the shower, helped dry him off and got them both into a pair of warm pyjamas that thankfully didn’t rub too much on the discs. He tucked them into bed and wrapped his body around Ianto’s, helping to quell the shaking, if only slightly.

Ianto snuggled into him, feeling safe and content. He really loved this man and he told him, so leaning up to kiss his jaw.

“I love you too,” Daniel replied, returning Ianto’s kiss with one to his hair. It took a long time for Ianto to fall asleep, the pyjamas were soft but they still felt incredibly weird against the discs. Eventually he did though, content in the knowledge that Daniel would be there when he woke up.

XX

Several nights later found Jack appearing in Captain Harkness’ office in the Torchwood hub where the immortal man was waiting for him. “Captain.” The word was as much a question as a greeting.

“General,” the Captain greeted in return. “How is Ianto?”

“Alive, that’s about as much as I can tell you. The kid does a good job of keeping his feelings to himself when he wants to,” Jack replied.

Harkness nodded, “Yeah, he was always good at that.” He reached behind him and pulled a small bag from his desk. “This is for him,” he said. “It’s the cover for the discs. Fairly straight forward to use, but there’s instructions in the bag in case there’s any confusion.”

Jack took the bag. “I’m sure he’ll appreciate it.”

The Captain nodded. “I was going to ask you the other day but decided it could wait at the time; does our alliance still stand? I know one of your provisions was that no further harm come to Ianto due to my relationship history, and while it was through no fault of my own John is an ex which places this situation in that category.”

“I’m aware of that,” Jack replied. “I will admit I considered it, even asked Ianto what he thought.”

“And what did he say?” Harkness asked.

“That the alliance between us was too important to break over someone like John Hart. And while he’s more than a little pissed at you over the whole thing, he knows it wasn’t your fault,” Jack replied.

“That’s good, tell him thank you for me.”

“He also said that unless it was absolutely necessary he would never set foot in the hub again, which is what you ultimately wanted so I guess that will make you happy.”

“Yeah, it’s what has to happen,” The immortal man replied with a nod, although Jack could see the sadness in his eyes. “He and that other guy, Daniel, are they…?”

“Not yet, but none of us think it’ll be long,” Jack replied honestly, knowing it would hurt the other man but seeing no reason to lie. The captain should be happy the man he loved had someone to care for him.

Good, that’s good,” Harkness replied looking away.

“What happened to Mr Hart?” Jack asked, wanting to change the subject.

“He’s in the dungeon at the moment. I’m still trying to decide what to do with him,” Captain Harkness replied. “What happened wasn’t really his fault and he does feel bad about it. That being said he doesn’t exactly have a stellar past.”

“Well, neither do you,” Jack said off handedly and Harkness gave him a poisonous glare.

“Let’s not start that again,” he growled.

“Well what can I say, Captain, it’s the truth. Just look at your ex in the dungeon.”

“Are we ever going to have a conversation without you insulting me?” the immortal man demanded angrily.

“Probably not,” Jack replied truthfully. “But that’s half the fun isn’t it?”

“You know I could come to your base and insult you too,” the captain threatened.

“You’d never get into my base,” Jack countered with a superior smile.

“Is that a challenge, General?” Captain Harkness asked.

“No, a challenge is something you might actually be able to achieve,” Jack returned mockingly, tapping his ear piece and ordering them to beam him back. “Toodles,” he said with a smart ass grin, watching the hub disappear in front of him. He grinned as he ordered the engineers to send him back to the base. If nothing else his conversations with Captain Jack usually amused him

XX

Ianto stared in the mirror for several moments, turning this way and that to see how the cover fit. The cover went over the discs but touched the skin around them and left a gap between the cover, which was metal on the outside with a soft, gel lining, and the disc itself. It then wrapped around his chest and attached at the back with a futuristic buckle that conformed to his body shape and tightened or loosened as he moved. It was odd, but not the worst thing he’d worn in his life and he was sure he’d get used to it eventually. It certainly beat the way the discs felt without it.

He pulled his shirt back on, sighing when there was no fabric rub, and headed out to the dining room where Sam, Jack, Janet, Cassandra, Paul, Daniel, Tosh and Teal’c were sitting chatting while they waited for dinner to cook. Daniel had offered to go into the room and help him with the cover when Jack arrived with it, but Ianto had declined wanting to sort it out himself before letting Daniel see it.

He asked if anyone wanted anything before taking his seat next to Daniel when the offer was declined. Dinner was great and the company was fantastic as always. They ended the night together with a few games, all child friendly for Cassandra, although she was quick to remind them that she was a teenager now, before the group headed home to bed. Teal’c and Tosh offered help clean up, but Daniel and Ianto declined so the pair headed off to bed leaving them alone. They worked through it quickly and when they were done Daniel grabbed Ianto’s hands and pulled him close.

“Did the cover work out all right?”he asked.

“Yeah,” Ianto replied. “It’s designed to move with me so it’s not restrictive or anything. It’s a bit weird, but I’ll adjust.”

“Is it helping?” Daniel asked.

“Yeah, a lot actually. I can’t feel anything at all on those spots at the moment. That being said I haven’t gone out of my way to touch them through the metal either,” Ianto replied thoughtfully reaching up to touch one of the spots where a disc sat. He didn’t feel anything at all, but that was far better than what it was like before.

“Anything?” Daniel asked.

Ianto shook his head. “No, I didn’t really expect there to be anything though. I’m just glad the whole hyper stimulated bit is over.”

“Does it sit pretty flat to your skin or…?”

“Oh, here.” Ianto pulled his shirt over his head and let Daniel see the cover for himself. The archaeologist studied it closely, asked Ianto’s permission to touch it, which Ianto granted, and finally moved around behind him to get a proper look at the clasp.

“It certainly seems well designed,” he commented.

“Yeah. I imagine the implants weren’t cheap and the price charged would have given the manufacturers plenty of money to play with when it came to creating the covers,” Ianto mulled aloud.

Daniel hummed in agreement before falling silent and after a few moments Ianto turned slightly to look at him. He was looking at the cover but his eyes were unfocused, as if he were thinking rather than focusing on what was in front of him.

“Daniel?”

“Sorry, I was thinking,” Daniel apologised, seemingly snapping out of wherever his thought process had taken him.

“About what?” Ianto asked curiously.

Daniel shook his head, “Nothing, don’t worry about it.”

“No, tell me, it’s okay,” Ianto coaxed turning around to face him properly.

“I was just wondering what kind of sick mind it would take to use something like this as a torture device,” Daniel replied, looking thoughtful and more than a little disturbed. “I mean torture is supposed to be unpleasant for the recipient and pain is an awful thing to endure, but at least it’s a …a clean kind of torture, if you know what I mean. Hurting someone gives their body and their mind a direct message, that person wants you to suffer so they’re going to cause you pain. Not nice in any way, but also relatively easy for the mind to process. Something like this could be used to do what John tried to do to you, to make a person feel what should be a pleasant sensation when they don’t want to feel it…” he trailed off and Ianto nodded.

“It’s not a nice experience that’s for sure. I dealt with the pain all right. I mean it was awful, but like you said it was expected. When he did those other things to me … that was when I got scared. He started touching me and … I tried to think about other things, to take my mind off what he wanted to do to me. Normally, when you want to escape something awful you go to a happy place in your mind. I couldn’t do that because you’re my happy place and I wouldn’t allow what he was doing to me taint my thoughts of you. I thought about Tosh and the others instead but … the distraction wasn’t as strong so it didn’t work as well, the feelings just kept coming at me. So I definitely know what you mean,” he said, turning his thoughts back to the present before his memories consumed him. “I would have taken being tortured for months if it spared me one more second of the other experience.”

Daniel pulled him into his arms and held him tightly, running a hand gently over his back. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be there to help you sooner,” he said softly. “I wanted to come in first with Jack and Teal’c, but the transporter could only manage three at a time with the gap Sam found in the barrier and that had to be Jack, Teal’c and Owen. I understand why … it didn’t make it any easier though.”

“It’s okay, I understand why too. Besides, as much as I just wanted to be in your arms through the whole thing, I would never have wanted you to see him torturing me. I’m sure Jack just wanted to spare you from that too.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Daniel agreed. “I didn’t like him for it at the time, but he’s a good friend.”

They held each other for another few minutes and Ianto’s mind wandered to everything that had happened over the last couple of days. One thing this experience had shown him was just how short and cruel life could be. The other thing it had shown him in, glaring detail, was how very much he loved Daniel and how badly he craved having the other man in his life and not as a friend anymore. It hadn’t been that long, not really, but he was ready now … well, as ready as one could ever be to move on.

“Daniel.” 

“Yeah.”

“Have we waited long enough?” Ianto asked, hoping the archaeologist would understand the question. He felt Daniel tense slightly in his arms before pulling back to look at him with searching eyes.

“Are you ready?” he asked softly.

“Yes,” Ianto replied, searching the other man’s eyes just as thoroughly.

“Are you sure? You’ve been through something pretty traumatic and that can mess with your feelings.”

Ianto shook his head, “No, it’s not that. All this experience did was drive home just how much I want to be with you, how much I love you. If you’re not ready though I-”

He was cut off mid sentence by the archaeologist’s lips on his own. He kissed back enjoying the sensation more than he could ever describe. “I love you too,” Daniel whispered when they parted. “And I think I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. I don’t want to let you go right now, I want to hold you forever.”

“You won’t get any complaints from me,” Ianto replied, sucking in a sharp breath when Daniel’s hands floated down his sides, stroking the bare skin. He slipped his own up Daniel’s hips and crept them under the other man’s shirt as Daniel brought his lips down to Ianto’s neck.

“I’ve been reading a lot lately,” Daniel whispered between kisses.

“About what?” Ianto asked breathlessly.

“About all the things I want to do with you,” Daniel replied. “I wanted to be ready.”

Ianto smiled. “I appreciate that. Although I think I’d be a pretty good teacher and the best way to learn is really through hands on practice.” he pulled back and slipped his hands into Daniel’s. “Don’t worry, we’ll take this a slow as we need to.” he kissed Daniel gently and pulled him down the hall to his bedroom.

XX

It was later that night that Daniel awoke to the sound of a phone buzzing on the night stand. He glanced round to see that it was Ianto’s and reached out gently to avoid waking his still sleeping lover who was curled up on his chest. He didn’t look to see who it was before answering.

“Ianto’s phone.”

“Oh, hi, sorry, is Ianto there?” Daniel thought he recognised the voice and pulled the phone back to see the caller ID. When he found his suspicions to be correct he pulled the phone back to his ear. 

“Yes, he’s here, he’s asleep. Is this important, Captain? Because I’m not waking him up unless it is.”

“I just wanted to see if he was all right and if he sorted out the cover okay.”

Daniel felt Ianto stir and he looked down to find the other man’s eyes open and looking at him curiously.

“Oh, looks like you’re in luck, he’s just woken up. I’ll pass you over.” He handed the phone to Ianto. “It’s captain hormone, do you want me to give you some privacy?”

“No, it’s all right,” Ianto replied sleepily, taking the phone and putting it to his ear. “What do you want, Jack?”

“I wanted to make sure you’re okay and you sorted the cover out all right,” Jack replied cautiously.

“It’s midnight here, Jack, you couldn’t wait for this until the morning?” Ianto asked. 

There was silence on the other end of the line before Jack spoke again. “I don’t know what to do about John.”

“What do you mean?” Ianto asked.

“I’m not sure what to do with him,” Jack repeated. “I know he wasn’t responsible for what happened to you, not really, but if he hadn’t been so caught up in the idea that you’d stollen me, or whatever, the spirit may have taken him somewhere else, so in that regard it was his fault. I don’t know what to do with him now. Do I keep him locked up, let him go, or feed him to a weevil?”

“Why are you asking me?” Ianto asked.

“Because you were the one he hurt the worst. You’re the one with sensory discs permanently in your chest because of him. It’s only right that you should have a say in his punishment. And because you’re usually the one I would ask about these things,” Jack replied.

“Not anymore I’m not,” Ianto reminded him and he was surprised by the lack of bitterness he felt about that. “And you don’t want me making this kind of decision right now, Jack. Or maybe ever, considering it’s John Hart we’re talking about. I am never going to feel anything but animosity toward him, I thought you of all people would know that.”

“I do,” Jack replied.

“Then you know it’s not a good idea. I’d vote the weevil option, every time,” Ianto told him honestly.

“Weevil?” Daniel asked him with a curious frown.

“Yeah, remember I told you about Janet back at Torchwood,” Ianto reminded him.

“Ah, yes, I remember now. They sound nasty.”

“Jack hold on a minute,” Ianto said, dropping the phone into his lap and looking up at his lover. “He wants my opinion about what to do with John Hart,” he explained.

“And one of the options is feeding him to a weevil?” Daniel asked.

“Yes.”

“I like it,” Daniel replied and Ianto let out a huff of laughter. 

“What happened wasn’t his fault, I know that. But my hatred of him is too strong from the first time we met him, I can’t be objective in this,” Ianto explained.

“Are you willing to sentence a man to death over that hatred?” Daniel asked seriously and Ianto thought about it.

“Right now I would, but I know I would regret it down the line. Even if he is a homicidal maniac,” Ianto told him truthfully. “What would you do?”

Daniel shook his head. “I wasn’t joking about the weevil, Ianto. He hurt you, badly, I can’t be any more objective than you can,” the archaeologist replied earnestly.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. My hatred of him stems from what he did to my previous colleagues not me.” Ianto thought about it for a while longer before picking up the phone and putting it to his ear. “You still there, Jack?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t let him go, he’s too dangerous and unpredictable. I won’t ask for his death, I won’t have that blood on my hands or ask you to have it on yours, but I don’t think he should just walk free either. Is there an intergalactic penal colony you can send him to or something?” he asked.

“I’ll look into it. Thank you for your input and I hope you’re okay.”

“I am, thank you,” Ianto replied and hung up the phone.

“Are you all right?” Daniel asked as Ianto dropped the phone back on one of the bedside tables.

“Yeah,” Ianto replied honestly. “John Hart will always be a sore spot for me. He would have been, even if we hadn’t met again.”

“What did he do?”

Ianto sighed. “Lied to us, double crossed us, tried to shoot Tosh but Owen got in the way. Paralysed Gwen and left her in a shipping container to die. Threw Jack off a roof before he knew about the whole not staying dead thing. Nearly got Gwen blown up. You know, all the usual fun stuff.”

“Did he do anything to you?”

Ianto shook his head. “He took my radio and told me Gwen, Tosh and Owen were dying so I’d leave him alone with Jack and run back to them. Pointed a gun at my head, but no, nothing physical. I think the terror that the only people I’d ever thought of as friends were dying is what got me the most. If not for that, I may not hate him so much.”

Daniel nodded, “I can understand that.” They were silent for a minute, each lost in his own thoughts. “Do you want to try and get back to sleep?” Daniel asked.

Ianto smiled and leant over to kiss the other man. “Maybe not right away,” he suggested with a grin. Daniel grinned back and pulled him into another kiss, lying back down on the bed and bringing Ianto with him. Ianto kissed him for a while before trailing his lips down lower, kissing and nipping at the skin of his lover’s throat before moving lower. Daniel watched his journey down until Ianto gave him a naughty grin and took his full length into his mouth causing him to throw his head back and groan.

Neither of them realised Tosh had gotten up for a drink of water. She grinned to herself as she passed their door on her way back to her own room and the sexy, naked man she had waiting there for her. Maybe she could wake Teal’c and convince him that another round was a good idea.

XX

 


End file.
